The  Call  of  ths  Cros: 


GEORGE    D.   HERRONV 


10,11,-).}, 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,   N.  J. 

*  Presented  by 


BV  4310  .H47  1892 

Herron,  George  Davis,  1862- 

1925. 
The  call  of  the  cross 


^JX-^JL ^ 


^ 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 


FROM  THE  N.  Y.  CRITIC. 

*'  Mr,  Herron  is  a  man  of  power.  What  is  most  attractive  about 
his  book  is  its  moral  rather  than  its  intellectual  seriousness,  to 
adopt  Matthew  Arnold's  phrase.  Mr.  Herron  aims  at  producing 
impressions,  not  by  iteration,  as  Matthew  Arnold  does,  for  he  has 
none  of  the  tricks  of  that  literary  magician,  but  by  earnest  and  em- 
phatic statements.  He  writes  with  immense  enthusiasm  and  fine 
culture.  Mr.  Herron,  like  a  prophet  — a  speaker  of  God,  that  he 
is  — does  not  argue;  he  appeals  to  one's  moral  nature;  he  pleads, 
he  commands." 

BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

The   Larger  Christ,     introduction  by  Rev. 

JosiAH  Strong,  D.  D.      i6mo.,  Vellum  Cloth,  Gilt 
Top,  75  cents. 

CONTENTS. 

I.  The  Discovery  of  Christ— The  Need  of  our  Times. 

n.  Innocen'ce  Suffering  for  Guilt. 

HI.  The  Growing  Christ— The  Dying  Self. 

VI.  The  Resurrection  of  Life. 

PRESS    NOTES. 

"A  truly  stimulating  book."— In<e?-ror. 

"At  once  searching,  persuasive  and  suggestive,  rich  in  idea, 
but  still  richer  in  cogent  appeal  to  conscience."— independent. 

"A  small  book  of  great  force.  One  cannot  conceive  such  mes- 
sages remaining  unuttered.-iV.  Y.  Christian  Advocate. 

"For  earnestness,  thoughtfulness,  clear  views,  vivid  pictur- 
esqueness,  we  recommend  this  work."— Z<o?i's  Herald. 

"Will  surely  help  many  to  a  larger  conception  of  Christ  and  a 
clearer  view  of  ixuih."— Christian  at  Work. 

"To  all  those  who  would  have  their  thoughts  deepened  and 
widened  we  always  commend  such  literature  as  ih\s.— Western 
Christian  Advocate. 

"In  this  volume  there  speaks  a  man  with  the  profound  convic- 
tion and  intense  earnestness  of  one  of  the  old  Hebrew  prophets." 
—Rev.  J osiah  Strong,  author  '■'Our  Country.'''' 


Message  of  Jesus  to  Men  of  Wealth. 

A   Tract  of   the   Times.     Vellum    Series,    20   cents. 
Cheap  Edition  for  Circulation,  loc,  $1.00  per  doz, 

"It  is  electric,  and  needs  not  the  impassioned  utterance  of  the 
speaker  to  give  it  emphasis.  It  flashes  with  a  fire  that  is  internal, 
and  contams  even  more  than  it  imparts.  It  is  timely,  courageous, 
Christian"— Rev.  Lyman  Abbott,  D.  D. 

"Nothing  so  eloquent  and  timely  has  appeared  for  many  a 
month."— Rev.  John  H.  Barrows,  D.  D. 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY,  Publishers. 


OCT  171923 


A 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 


FOUR  COLLEGE  SERMONS 


BY 


REV.   GEORGE  D.   HERRON,    D.   D. 


Introduction  by  President  George  A.  Gates 


Fleming  H.  Revell  Company, 


NEW  YORK: 
30    Union    Square:    East. 


CHICAGO: 
148  and  150  Madison  Street. 


Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  office  of  the 
Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington  D.  C.  by  Fleming  H 
Revell  Company  in  the  year  1893. 


TO    MY    FRIEND, 

CARRIE  RAND, 

AN    ELECT    LADY, 
I    DEDICATE   THIS    CALL   OF   THE    CROSS. 


INTRODUCTION 

All  truth  that  has  vitalizing  power  comes 
home  to  men  in  visions.  The  visions  may 
be  of  the  head  or  heart.  Through  whatever 
tributary  the  waters  first  are  seen  to  be  flow- 
ing they  must  all  merge  in  the  main  current  of 
experience,  or  the  vision  is  no  real  vision  but 
some  cheap  fancy,  such  "stuff  as  dreams  are 
made  of."  The  contents  of  this  little  volume 
are  a  real  vision.  The  author  is  distinctively 
a  seer.  The  one  vision  under  which  may  be 
classified  all  the  others  is  a  divine-human  life, 
real  to  thought,  actual  in  living,  realized  al- 
ready in  part,  to  be  perfected  in  a  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth,  ON   EARTH,  nota  bene. 

Christianity  is  more  than  any  church  or  all 
churches,  more  than  any  and  all  creeds.  Christ 
has  not  come  into  the  world  to  establish  sal- 
vation by  the  ark  theory  of  separating  a  few 
from  an  inevitable  general  wreck.  Christ  has 
come  to  redeem  humanity.      That  redemption 


INTRODUCTION 


is  established;  but  redemption  is  essentially  a 
process.  Consequently,  the  completion  must 
be  wrought  out  through  the  ages  of  human- 
ity's development.  The  Hebrew  root  from 
which  is  derived  the  word  Pharisee  is  a  verb 
signifying  to  separate.  That  is  the  spirit  of 
Pharisaism.  "Come  ye  out  from  among  them 
and  be  ye  separate,"  is  fatal  or  vital  according 
to  whether  the  injunction  be  considered  as  a 
means  or  an  end.  The  original  Pharisees  mis- 
took it  as  an  end.  They  brought  upon  their 
heads  the  accumulated  woes  from  the  lips  of 
Jesus.  He  taught  and  lived  and  died  for  the 
exact  reverse  of  that  spirit  of  Pharisaism. 
The  only  separatism  that  true  Christianity 
knows  is  a  withdrawal  in  order  to  gain  an  ac- 
cumulation of  power  for  service.  Christianity 
is  not  separation  but  permeation. 

The  church  is  not  to  withdraw  itself  into 
an  organization  gathered  out  of  the  world; 
it  is  to  pour  itself  in  the  consecrated  sacrifice 
of  service  into  the  world.  The  two  disciples 
who  were  on  the  mount  with  Jesus  wanted  to 
take  advantage  of  their  opportunity  to  make 
a  little  private  high  church  establishment  and 
suggested  that  they  abide  there.     The  lower 


INTRODUCTION 


section  of  Raphael's  great  picture  of  the 
Transfiguration  has  immortahzed  in  art  their 
rebuke. 

The  author  of  this  book  is  an  optimist. 
The  writer  of  this  Introduction  heard  a  man 
say,  "He  is  a  pessimist;  he  thinks  the  world 
is  going  to  the  devil  and  the  church  going 
along  with  it."  On  the  contrary,  he  thinks 
the  world  is  going  to  God.  It  is  going 
to  accelerate  its  speed  thither  immeasur- 
ably in  the  near  future.  Humanity  is  going 
thither,  whether  ina  the  church,  or  a  church, 
or  without  any  church — that  is,  by  some  new 
and  different  organization  of  the  divine  life. 
Till  the  Almighty  abdicates  the  throne  of  the 
universe  there  is  no  mission  for  the  pessimist. 
The  author  believes  in  the  divine  development 
of  the  human  race  with  all  the  passion  of  a 
Hegelian.  He  believes  in  the  cross  as  the 
symbol  of  the  method  of  that  development 
with  all  the  intensity  of  the  most  strenuous 
evangelical.  The  contents  of  this  volume  are 
not  visionary  except  in  the  sense  already  in- 
dicated. The  author  is  no  church-steeple 
dreamer;  he  is  a  practical  preacher  and  evan- 
gelizer.   The  most  successful  evangelist  of  our 


INTRODUCTION 


modern  days  begins  always  with  the  church. 
First  let  the  church  be  born  again,  re- 
converted, then  the  church  may  pour  itself 
upon  the  community. 

Two  of  these  sermons  were  preached  before 
the  students  of  Iowa  College  in  connection  with 
the  day  of  prayer  for  colleges.  It  is  pleasant 
to  testify  to  their  evangelistic  power  as  deter- 
mined by  that  practical  test.  No  test  is  more 
practical.  A  body  of  college  students  is  some- 
what unconventional  and  entirely  frank  in 
the  response  to  what  comes  before  them. 
The  combination  in  these  sermons  of  strong 
intellectuality  with,  if  possible,  yet  more  pro- 
found spiritual  experience,  is  precisely  adapted 
to  effectiveness  before  college  students. 
These  sermons  lift  up  Christ  in  order  that 
he  may  draw  all  men  unto  him. 

The  appeals  of  the  elements  of  the  gospel 
here  emphasized  address  themselves  to  the 
heroic  in  young  men  and  women.  Therein 
consists  their  power.  There  is  very  little  real 
and  abiding  help  for  the  young  in  anything 
which  falls  short  of  calling  for  their  heroism. 
To  tell  them  that  they  need  Christ  to  save 
them  will  many  times   help    as   nothing  else 


INTRODUCTION 


can.  But  there  is  a  profounder  impulse  than 
that;  there  is  a  higher  motive  than  seeking 
one's  personal  safety  here  or  anywhere,  now 
or  any  when.  That  higher  motive  is  a  call 
to  sacrifice.  Sacrifice  at  its  best  is  a  sacri- 
fice of  consecration  to  service.  Dulce  et  de- 
corum est  pro  patria  viori,  sang  the  old 
Roman  poet.  Though  no  poet  ever  sang  it, 
it  is  true  that  it  is  sweeter  and  more  beauti- 
ful to  live  for  one's  country.  Ay,  and  infi- 
nitely harder.  The  sacrifice  of  use  is  an  im- 
measurably severer  test  of  character  than  the 
sacrifice  of  renunciation.  It  is  just  that  ap- 
peal to  the  great  sacrifice  of  use  and  service 
that  stirs  the  hearts  of  young  men  and  women 
as  no  other  appeal  can  do  it.  The  gospel 
must  be  seen  to  be  not  a  philosophic  specula- 
tion, but  a  real  life  which  can  enter  into  men 
and  women  and  send  them  out  consumed  with 
the  fire  of  a  Christian  consecration.  The  most 
glorious  call  that  ever  sounds  in  the  souls  of 
them  who  have  ears  to  hear,  is  when  the 
voice  of  God  calls,  as  he  calls  every  one: 
"Come;  I  want  you  to  help  me  to  help  men." 
This  little  book  contains  such  an  appeal. 
It  must  do  good  among  those  in  whom  is  the 


10  INTRODUCTION 


best  hope  of  the  future  of   our   race,  the  stu- 
dents in  our  institutions   of   higher   learning. 
lozva  College,  George  A.  Gates. 

GrinnelL  Iowa. 


*  -'The  Call  of  the  Cross"    and  "The  Divine  Method  of  Culture' 
were  preached  at  the  1892  commencement  of  Tabor  College,  Iowa. 


CONTENTS 

I 

THE  CALL  OF    THE  CROSS 

II 

THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

III 

THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

IV 

A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  FROM  THE  INCARNATION 


I 

The  Call  of  the  Cross 


I  do  not  believe  the  world  is  dying  for  new  ideas.  A  teach- 
er has  a  high  place  amongst  us,  but  some  one  is  wanted  here 
and  abroad  far  more  than  a  teacher.  It  is  power  we  need, 
power  that  shall  help  us  to  solve  our  practical  problems,  pow- 
er that  shall  help  us  to  realize  a  high,  individual,  spiritual 
life,  power  that  shall  make  us  daring  enough  to  act  out  all  we 
have  seen  in  vision,  all  we  have  learnt  in  principle  from  Jesus 
Christ.  .  .  .  And  I  do  trust  that,  among  all  the  teachings 
of  our  churches,  there  will  be  a  clear  and  forceful  exposition 
of  the  wider  aspects  of  Christian  citizenship  and  responsibility, 
and  that  we  shall  never  again,  if  ever  our  fathers  did  in  the 
past,  sink  back  into  that  exclusive  individualism  which  thinks 
so  much  and  strives  so  much  to  forget  that  personal  salvation 
is  only  the  beginning  of  a  renewed  individualism  through 
which  societies  and  nations,  and  at  last  the  world,  shall  be 
overtaken  for  Jesus  Christ.  — Rev.  Charles  A.  Berry. 


The  Call  of  the   Cross 

Arise,  let  us  go  hence. — John  xiv:  31. 

Our  Lord  by  these  words  is  not  bidding  the 
apostles  go  with  him  from  the  room  where 
they  have  been  eating  the  parting  supper. 
In  that  sacred  place  they  probably  remained 
until  after  the  Prayer  of  Intercession.  More 
than  place  or  time  is  meant  by  going  hence. 
Master  and  apostles  are  standing  together  in 
one  of  God's  moments  in  history.  Now  is 
the  crisis  of  this  world.  The  cross  is  calling 
the  faith  of  Christ  to  make  its  last  and  in- 
finite leap,  ere  Satan  be  cast  out,  and  the 
Father  glorified  in  the  redemption  of  the 
world.  The  Son  of  Man  had  broken  with 
the  past  before,  when  he  went  out  from  his 
home  at  Nazareth  to  receive  the  baptism  of 
John;  when  he  emerged  victorious  from  the 
wilderness,  the  glory  of  the  world  behind  him, 


16  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

and  the  cross  ahead;  when  he  made  choice 
of  the  twelve  apostles  to  be  his  trained  wit- 
nesses. But  now  the  past  has  drunk  its  fill 
from  the  springs  of  his  life,  and  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  world  for  its  redemption  is 
complete.  The  future  is  impatient,  and 
the  calling  cross  stands  waiting.  And 
Jesus,  knowing  that  his  hour  is  come, 
having  finished  his  Father's  work,  is  ready 
to  be  offered.  He  foresees  that  the  fruit 
of  his  sacrifice  will  be  a  redeemed  hu- 
manity, and  his  cross  a  throne  of  sovereign 
love,  under  the  dominion  of  which  he  will  at 
last  unite  all  men  in  a  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness and  fellowship  of  truth.  In  order  that 
the  world  may  know  that  I  love  the  Father, 
and  as  the  Father  gave  me  commandment, 
even  so  I  do.  In  obedience  to  him,  that  he 
may  be  glorified  before  the  children  of  dis- 
obedience, and  they  from  sin  be  delivered,  let 
us  arise  and  go  hence.  It  was  the  call  of  the 
cross  to  the  Master  that  uttered  itself  in  his 
command  to  the  apostles  to  go  hence  with 
him  upon  their  world-wide  mission. 

The  call  of   the    cross   to    Christ    was   the 
summons  of  the  disciples  to  a  larger  career  in 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  17 

God's  great  world  of  need  and  sorrow  and 
sin.  It  was  a  call  to  move  out  from  the  old 
life  of  self-seeking  and  misunderstanding,  of 
pupilage  and  correction,  into  a  new  life  of 
self-renunciation  and  intelligent  and  tireless 
action.  The  old  life  was  closing  in  disaster 
and  disappointment,"  disgrace  and  seeming 
defeat.  The  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  soon  to  be 
received,  was  the  inward  creation  of  a  new 
life,  the  gift  of  a  new  energy,  the  kindling  of 
a  divine  enthusiasm,  that  would  niake  them 
beacons  of  truth  to  weary  centuries  of  false- 
hood. The  cross  that  called  their  Lord  to  a 
sacrificial  death  called  the  disciples  to  a  sacri- 
ficial life. 

How  much  was  involved  in  that  summons 
to  go  hence,  what  labors  and  sufferings,  they 
could  not  then  be  made  to  understand.  The 
Lord  had  many  things  to  say  unto  them 
which  they  were  not  yet  able  to  bear.  What 
he  had  told  them  they  now  comprehended 
not.  That  they  were  to  be  social  outcasts, 
despised  and  hated  of  men,  arraigned  as 
criminals  before  judges  and  kings,  seems  not 
yet  to  have  impressed  itself  upon  them  as  a 
fact.      The  first  steps   of   the    new   life    were 


18  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

taken  in  utter  darkness.  So  far  as  their  faith 
could  see,  they  were  walking  the  ways  of 
failure  and  death,  not  life  and  victory.  They 
heard  the  call  of  the  cross,  but  saw  neither 
throne  nor  crown. 

But  the  Lord  went  with  them;  not  merely 
through  the  night  to  the  cross,  but  henceforth 
evermore.  They  were  not,  as  they  after- 
wards learned,  called  to  obey  the  commands 
and  imitate  the  example  of  a  dead  Christ,  but 
to  follow  and  trust  a  living  Redeemer. 
Though  the  cross  called  them  in  ways  they 
knew  not,  with  a  profounder  meaning  and  to 
a  greater  work  than  they  at  first  understood, 
in  no  walk  or  work  were  they  absent  from 
their  Lord.  Wherever  he  sent  them,  in  the 
years  which  followed  that  night  in  which  he 
bade  them  arise  and  go  hence,  his  presence 
was  always  with  them,  an  unfailing  source  of 
cheer  and  strength.  As  he  led  the  way  to 
his  own  cross,  so  he  went  before  them  in  all 
the  paths  of  obedience  and  action.  Death 
did  not  take  away  their  Lord,  but  only  united 
him  with  them  in  closer  and  higher,  holier 
and  mightier,  relations.  He  was  with  them 
always    as   a   living    Christ,    rejoicing    them 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  10 

through  all  tribulations,  sustaining  them 
through  all  labors,  inspiring  all  their  words 
through  the  Spirit.  While  the  call  of  the 
cross  was  indeed  an  appeal  to  their  faith,  a 
call  to  grief  and  loss,  it  was  also  a  call  to  a 
life  of  joyous  fellowship  with  Christ  in  the 
redemptive  work  of  his  love. 

The  calling  cross  forever  stands,  a  continu- 
ous summons  to  our  faith  and  devotion  to 
manifest  themselves  in  self-denying  lives  of 
love  and  work.  The  cross  of  our  Christ  can 
never  rightly  mean  less  to  us  than  the  entire 
dedication  of  all  our  powers  and  energies  to 
him  as  our  ever-present  Saviour  and  King. 
But  there  are  times  when  the  call  of  the  cross 
is  instinct  with  a  new  emphasis;  when  the 
summons  of  Christ  to  a  completer  self-surren- 
der, to  a  more  consecrated  life,  is  as  clear  to 
us  as  it  was  to  the  twelve  upon  that  memo- 
rable night.  There  are  epochs  in  our  lives 
when  we  see  that  the  old  way  of  living,  how- 
ever full  of  hope  it  may  once  have  been,  is 
not  the  way  of  life  in  which  we  must  hence- 
forth set  our  feet.  The  low  ambitions  of  the 
past  are  seen  to  be  shameful.  Dreams  of 
power  and  happiness  once  so  fair  have  grown 


20  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

repulsive.  Needs  once  embracing  our  esti- 
mate of  the  worth  of  life  are  felt  no  longer. 
Old  hopes  are  now  forgotten.  New  revela- 
tions of  truth  make  wrong  what  once  was 
right.  Things  once  the  end  of  life  are  seen 
to  be  but  means.  Past  fellowships  and  joys, 
moral  achievements,  plans  and  toils,  were 
but  a  preparation  for  the  time  when  we  must 
go  forth  upon  a  new  course  of  life.  The  cup 
of  the  past  is  full,  and  to  give  it  more  of  life 
is  waste.  We  are  at  the  end  of  the  old  way, 
and  to  turn  our  steps  backward,  in  the  paths 
from  which  we  are  clearly  called,  is  to  out- 
rage conscience  and  deny  the  living  Christ. 
To  these  epochal  moments,  summoning  us 
to  a  larger  life,  we  are  all  brought.  The  Lord 
comes  to  us  in  some  sudden  flash  of  light; 
some  proffered  opportunity  of  larger  service; 
some  life-long  sorrow  that  comes  to  make  the 
heart  its  home;  some  fruitful  fellowship  with 
a  new  friend,  whose  life  reveals  hitherto  un- 
seen possibilities  in  our  humanity;  some 
great  vacancy  left  in  the  soul  by  a  departed 
hope;  some  great  wrong  that  presses  upon  us 
as  meant  for  our  righting;  some  appeal  of  a 
great  need  in  city,  church,  or  state; — in  some 


THE  C/ILL  OF  THE  CROSS  21 

moment  like  one  of  these  the  Son  of  God 
comes  to  each  of  us,  perhaps  when  we  think 
not,  bidding  us  arise  and  enter  upon  a  diviner 
course  of  life.  But  however  unexpected  the 
moment  or  the  hour,  he  has  yet  made  himself 
known,  commanding  that  we  let  self  alone 
for  awhile,  and  work  out  the  larger  problems 
of  life  with  the  new  resources  which  he  puts 
in  our  hands.  In  that  rare  hour  of  commun- 
ion we  stood  close  by  the  cross  of  our  Christ, 
and  heard  its  sweet,  strong  call  to  purer, 
greater  and  more  unselfish  living.  There 
spoke  a  voice  in  our  souls:  "Arise,  let  us  go 
hence."  When  we  obeyed  that  call  a  new 
world  of  truth  and  work  opened  to  our  vision. 

"  And  there  have  fallen  from  us,  as  we  traveled, 
Many  a  burden  of  an  ancient  pain — 
Many  a  tangled  cord  hath  been  unraveled, 
Never  to  bind  our  foolish  heart  again." 

The  call  to  larger  life,  to  wider  usefulness, 
to  more  heroic  endeavor,  to  truer  consecra- 
tion, is  always  the  call  of  the  cross.  When- 
ever the  Son  of  Man  appears  to  summon  you 
to  action,  by  the  way  of  the  cross  he  invari- 
ably leads  you.  The  first  principle  of  all  well- 
done  work  is  self-renunciation.  A  faith  that 
is  not  strong  enough  to   leap  away  from  self 


23  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

into  the  unseen  and  unknown  is  not  the  faith 
that  works  righteousness  in  the  world.  He 
is  no  loyal  follower  of  Christ  who  demands 
to  see  along  the  ways  he  is  being  led.  En- 
tire self-abandonment,  the  surrender  of  all 
claims  to  the  disposal  of  one's  own  life,  the 
willingness  not  to  see,  is  the  first  condition 
of  all  discipleship.  All  righteous  work  is 
vicarious.  It  is  impossible  that  you  serve  your 
age,  in  its  crises  and  opportunities,  without 
bearing  away  its  sins  and  burdens  in  your 
own  soul.  Christ  never  pointed  out  a  path 
of  duty,  or  commanded  a  service,  or  disclosed 
a  new  career  of  life,  that  had  not  somewhere 
in  it  a  Gethsemane  and  a  Calvary.  T«o  be  a 
Christian  according  to  Christ  means,  first  and 
always,  the  unreserved  surrender  of  self  to 
him  as  Master,  for  him  to  do  with  as  he  wills. 
The  call  to  be  a  Christian,  or  a  better  Chris- 
tian, is  a  summons  to  be  no  more  your  own 
man  but  Christ's  self-renounced  man;  to 
dedicate  your  life  with  all  its  powers  and 
possessions,  your  occupations  and  energies, 
to  the  righteousness  to  which  Christ  dedicated 
himself;  to  live  among  your  associates,  in 
whatever  sphere   of   life   you   move,  in    your 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  23 

church  and  out  of  it,  for  the  very  same  end 
that  Christ  Hved.  It  is  a  call  to  make  Christ's 
cause  your  cause;  to  make  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  for  which  Christ  spake  and  lived 
and  died  the  authoritative  mission  of  your 
life;  to  make  Christ's  faith  in  the  fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  your 
faith.  To  live  a  Christian  life  means,  in  the 
real  sense,  the  giving  of  your  whole  course  of 
procedure  to  the  direction  of  Jesus  as  your 
living  King. 

It  is  this  element  of  continuous  loyalty  to 
Jesus,  in  the  faith  that  he  is  a  present  and 
reigning  Christ,  that  not  only  constitutes  the 
distinctive  feature  of  Christianity,  and  thus 
differentiates  it  from  other  religions,  but  also 
makes  it  the  permanent  creative  and  construct- 
ive force  in  human  history.  It  is  the  faith 
of  the  New  Testament  that  loyalty  to  Christ 
fruits  in  all  virtues,  because  they  are  the 
outgrowth  of  the  indwelling  Christ  who  is 
himself  the  source  of  all  righteousness.  And 
it  is  the  failure  to  keep  foremost  the  fact  that 
Christianity  is  loyalty  to  Christ,  accompanied 
by  the  fact  that  loyalty  to  Christ  means  the 
entire  surrender  of  self  to   his   authority   and 


24  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

guidance,  that  constitutes  the  shameful  weak- 
ness of  Christendom  in  the  face  of  the  great 
needs  and  duties  which  are  calling  the  church 
of  our  day  to  a  new  career  and  a  more  com- 
prehensive mission. 

For,  let  it  be  clearly  understood,  so  far  as 
this  voice  is  to  interpret,  that  being  a  Chris- 
tian is  something  more  than  being  a  good 
man,  according  to  common  standards  of  good- 
ness. It  is  a  sad  misconception  of  Chris- 
tianity, fatal  alike  to  doctrine  and  practice, 
which  permits  the  thought  to  get  abroad  in 
the  world  that  being  a  Christian  is  simply 
obedience  to  current  moral  and  religious  cus- 
toms. One  may  possess  the  natural  quali- 
ties that  make  up  an  admirable  character, 
and  yet  lack  the  distinctive  feature  and  ex- 
perience that  belong  to  a  genuine  Christian 
manhood  or  womanhood.  He  may  live  an 
agreeable  and  peaceful  life,  disturbing  not  his 
times,  and  quietly  attending  to  his  own  busi- 
ness, faultless  in  his  conduct  so  far  as  it  com- 
prehends the  meaning  of  life,  yet  be  without 
Christ  and  his  hope  in  the  world.  He  may 
be  good  in  the  sight  of  God  as  well  as  man, 
and  yet  not  be  Christian,  just  as  a  violet  may 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  25 

be  perfect  after  its  kind,  and  beautiful  to  look 
upon;  harmless,  too,  where  a  flame  would  be 
terribly  destructive,  but  still  a  violet;  and 
God  does  not  light  the  world  with  violets. 

Natural  goodness  is  not  Christian  virtue. 
It  is  good  as  far  as  it  goes.  It  may  be  the 
basis,  or  even  a  fruit,  of  the  Christian  life;  but 
it  does  not  in  itself  make  one  Christian.  Christ- 
ianity is  infinitely  more  than  natural  goodness. 
A  Christian  is  a  supernatural  being,  who  has 
had  a  supernatural  experience,  and  possesses 
more  than  natural  resources  for  thought  and 
action.  He  does  not  live  an  unnatural  life, 
nor  is  the  natural  evil  in  his  sight;  but  there 
is  more  of  him  than  there  is  in  nature.  The 
Christian  takes  in,  more  or  less  perfectly,  the 
good  of  nature;  but  he  takes  to  it  the  good 
that  is  supernatural.  The  new  birth,  which 
is  a  supernatural  experience,  whether  its  trav- 
ail be  long  or  short,  invests  character  with 
more  than  the  most  faultless  natural  quali- 
ties. It  is  a  second  creation,  making  a^ 
man  a  citizen  of  another  world  than  the  one 
he  sees  with  the  eyes  of  sense.  The  new- 
born man  is  a  distinctly  different  creature  from 
the  man  at  his  side,  who,  so    far  as    the  un- 


26  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

spiritualized  eye  can  see,  is  every  whit  his  mor- 
al equal.  For  the  natural  man,  though  truly 
a  work  of  God,  naturally  good  as  he  may  be, 
receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God; 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him;  and  he  can- 
not know  them;  because  they  are  spiritually 
examined.  One  may  be  a  careful  and  con- 
scientious student  of  Christianity,  knowing 
Christianity  as  a  religious  science,  and  a  cata- 
logue of  religious  facts,  yet  know  nothing  of 
Christianity  as  a  spiritual  life.  Except  a 
man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Not  that  nature  is  evil — it  is 
good  and  beautiful — but  transient,  shadowy, 
and  insubstantial;  only  meant  to  serve  a  tem- 
poral and  educational  purpose.  The  spiritual 
alone  is  the  real  and  eternal.  The  natural 
is  not  bad;  it  simply  does  not  comprehend 
the  spiritual.  The  whole  natural  world  may 
be  squeezed  dry,  and  there  is  not  enough  in 
it  to  make  a  Christian  character.  From  the 
natural  point  of  view,  the  Christian  life  is  a 
sustained  miracle,  a  supernatural  career.  It 
is  greater  than  the  powers  of  nature,  tran- 
scending all  the  possibilities  of  nature.  It  is 
nourished    by  moral   meat    and    drink    that 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  27 

nature  cannot  supply.  And  what  we  now  need 
for  the  future  development  of  Christian 
thought  is  not  so  much  the  knowledge  of 
natural  law  in  the  spiritual  world  as  the  re- 
discovery of  spiritual  law  in  the  natural 
world. 

The  Christian  is  Christ  continued — divine 
incarnation  increased  and  carried  along.  He 
is  a  man  of  whom  God  has  gotten  possession 
and  anointed  with  Christ's  anointing,  which 
is  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Christian 
virtue  is  natural  goodness  aflame  with  God. 
That  which  distinguishes  Christian  virtue 
from  natural  goodness,  and  from  the  undis- 
turbed repose  which  is  the  ideal  of  Epictetus 
and  the  Stoic  philosophers,  is  a  divine  and 
quenchless  enthusiasm.  The  apostles  worked 
and  spoke  at  white  heat.  They  burned  as 
white  flames  of  holiness,  the  breath  of  God 
flashing  their  light  across  the  nations.  They 
spoke  with  tongues  of  fire,  and  dipped  their 
pens  in  the  blood  of  their  hearts.  They  en- 
treated and  rebuked  with  an  intensity  that 
seemed  to  men  of  the  world  as  madness. 
They  entered  the  godless  cities  as  men  turn- 
ing  the   world   upside   down.      They   walked 


28  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

the  earth  as  its  conquerors,  armed  with 
weapons  handed  down  from  the  skies.  They 
were  in  the  world  but  not  of  it,  and  the 
stars  were  their  friends.  They  were  serene; 
but  theirs  was  the  serenity  of  high  and  holy 
passions.  And  others  have  been  'caught  in 
their  flame,  the  Florentine  monks  of  Saint 
Mark's,  the  Waldenses  and  Huguenots,  the 
Lollards  and  the  Pilgrims,  Edwards  and 
Wesley  and  Finney,  and  a  great  multitude 
ivhom  no  man  can  number,  keeping  faith 
alive  in  the  race,  lavishing  themselves  upon 
an  unfriendly  world,  and  growing  large 
through  burning  and  rich  in  giving.  And 
faith  and  virtue  have  not  perished  from 
among  men  because  some  have  always  lived 
to  whom  faith  was  a  life,  and  not  an  opinion; 
to  whom  virtue  was  a  passion,  and  not  a 
pleasant  study.  It  is  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Christ-Spirit,  which  is  the  passion  of  God 
for  righteousness,  kindling,  illuminating, 
transforming  the  life  of  the  man  until  he  be- 
comes a  living,  burning  word  of  God — it  is 
this  baptism,  this  being  caught  up  in  a  flame 
from  the  sin-consuming  fire  of  God,  this  con- 
version  of    one's  whole  being  into  an  energy 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  29 

of  truth  and  love,  that  makes  virtue  dis- 
tinctively Christian.  It  is  the  virtue  that 
cannot  and  dare  not  take  its  ease  in  the  face 
of  the  sin  and  woe  of  the  world.  When  good- 
ness becomes  merely  passive,  like  that  of  the 
professional  Christian  of  our  day,  or  a  mere 
moral  self-culture,  like  that  of  the  philoso- 
phers, it  ceases  to  be  Christian.  It  is,  I  do 
not  forget,  good,  what  there  is  of  it,  and 
brings  with  it  happiness;  but  it  lacks  the  one 
element  that  would  make  it  Christian;  it  has 
not  the  power  that  saves  the  world.  Chris- 
tian virtue  finds  its  rest  in  wearing  a  yoke  of 
toil,  and  enters  the  joy  of  the  Lord  on  the 
field  of  conflict  against  unrighteousness.  The 
rest  of  Christ  is  the  burden  of  others.  The 
peace  of  Christ  is  the  armor  of  God  for  battle 
and  conquest.  The  faith  of  Christ  is  omnipo- 
tent power  to  work  righteousness. 

Now  the  fact  that  the  Christian  life  is 
supernatural,  and  is  so  supreme  a  life,  so  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  natural  man,  is  not 
a  discouragement,  but  an  overwhelming  en- 
couragement. If  I  supposed  myself  sent 
forth  on  a  Christian  career  dependent  upon 
any  natural  resources,  or  any  help  or  strength 


30  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

I  can  feel  or  see  in  nature,  I  should  think  the 
Gospel  a  divine  tantalism.  But  I  know  that 
I  am  sent,  as  you  are  sent,  in  the  power  of 
the  immanent  and  sovereign  Christ,  renewing 
our  life  when  the  resources  of  the  world  are 
exhausted,  giving  a  quenchless  joy  when  hap- 
piness takes  wing.  He,  the  ever-living  and 
all-present  Christ,  is  our  strength  and  song. 
The  transforming  power  of  the  indwelling 
Christ  is  our  purification.  Unqualified  sub- 
mission to  him,  not  obedience  to  any  code  of 
morals,  is  our  safety.  By  faith  in  Christ  as 
a  constant  and  personal  Redeemer  is  the 
fallen  human  life  made  divine.  We  are 
sent  hence  from  this  sacred  place,  to  make 
righteousness  the  purpose  and  passion  of  our 
life,  in  company  with  Christ.  Fellowship 
with  him  is  our  growth.  He  is  our  peace,  his 
love,  our  strength.  Through  bringing  all  we 
have  to  his  feet,  through  the  entire  commit- 
ment of  our  lives  unto  his  keeping,  through 
the  absolute  dedication  of  all  self-interest  to 
his  kingdom,  we  are  able  to  see  the  sin  of  our 
hearts  and  make  no  terms  with  it,  neither 
despair  at  our  weakness.  By  faith  in  his 
power  to  make   us  whole    may   we   see    God 


THE  C/fLL  OF  THE  CROSS  31 

and  live.  In  the  faith  that  Christ,  through 
the  Spirit,  is  working  out  his  redemption  to 
its  full  fruition  have  we  courage  and  power  to 
make  righteousness  our  occupation,  and  all 
material  things  its  ministers.  Because  he 
lives  we  live  also.  Because  he  is  in  the  world, 
we  can  live  as  sons  of  God  who  fear  not  the 
world,  facing  its  confident  and  jeering  battal- 
ions of  selfishness  serene  and  triumphant, 
knowing  that  he  who  began  the  good  work 
of  straightening  out  this  crooked  wurld  has 
power  in  heaven  and  on  earth  to  complete 
the  work. 

Wherefore,  though  a  man  of  Christ  be 
driven  to  shame  and  sickness  of  heart  by 
the  question  of  what  one  poor,  sinful  soul  can 
do,  he  may  arise  and  go  about  his  work  in  the 
faith  that  the  Son  of  Man  has  overcome  the 
world,  and  is  going  forth  conquering  and  to 
conquer.  Though  the  forces  of  wrong  have 
endured  so  long  and  strong;  though  Cain 
takes  Christ's  name,  and  hides  his  brother's 
blood  in  silken  garments,  and  sits  on  mam- 
mon's throne,  and  rules  awhile  the  nations; 
yet  faith  acts  as  seeing  the  invisible  Christ  al- 
ready upon  the  throne  of  universal  dominion, 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 


and  is  persuaded  that  neither  powers  nor 
principalities,  things  present  nor  things  to 
come,  can  separate  the  world  from  the  love 
of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord, 
unto  whom  every  knee  in  heaven  and  on  earth 
shall  yet  rejoice  to  bow.  Though  the  world 
smile  while  the  life  of  faith  flings  reputation 
and  comfort  away  to  beat  itself  against  the 
mountain  masses  of  human  sin,  to  be  mangled 
upon  the  rocks  of  human  pride,  to  be  trampled 
under  the  feet  of  human  selfishness,  yet  faith 
knows  that  God  and  history  will  vindicate  its 
wisdom. 

And  because  this  life  is  of  God  and  not  of 
man,  of  the  Spirit  and  not  the  flesh,  it  is 
offered  without  measure  unto  all  the  sons  of 
men.  Whoever  will  may  freely  drink  of  the 
water  of  this  spiritual  life.  The  reason  why 
some  more  clearly  than  others  are  seen  to  be 
the  sons  of  God  is  in  the  fact  that  some  re- 
ceived the  gifts  of  God,  while  others  doubt 
and  delay.  I  doubt  not  there  were  many  in- 
tellects in  Galilee  as  great  as  Peter's,  but  they 
did  not  devote  themselves  with  the  same  self- 
abandon  to  their  Lord.  Not  in  any  divine 
partiality,  but  in  the   quality   and    continuity 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  33 

of  self-surrender,  is  the  difference  in  the 
spiritual  power  of  the  followers  of  Christ. 
That  some  are  divinely  exalted,  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  humbled  themselves  un- 
conditionally at  his  feet.  The  offers  of  the 
Spirit  are  made  without  discrimination.  As 
empty  as  any  of  you  are  of  self,  so  full  you 
may  be  of  the  living  Christ.  Whoever  will 
may  make  the  self-surrender  that  is  rewarded 
with  the  gifts  of  God.  Whoever  will  sell  all 
that  he  hath,  may  buy  the  pearl  of  a  price- 
less character.  Whoever  will  bear  the  cross 
of  absolute  self-renunciation,  may  wear  the 
crown  of  divine  righteousness.  Whoever  is 
willing  to  part  with  all  the  garments  of  pride 
and  selfishness,  may  carry  the  sword  of  re- 
sistless holiness. 

My  brother,  there  is  no  reason  in  heaven  or 
beneath,  why  you  should  not,  at  this  moment, 
in  this  holy  place  and  hour,  lay  your  heart 
upon  the  altar  of  a  perfect  sacrifice  in  the 
service  of  your  Lord  Christ.  There  is  not  an 
excuse  that  will  stand  at  the  judgment  seat  of 
mercy,  not  an  excuse  that  will  stand  at  the 
judgment  bar  of  your  own  conscience,  before 
the  cross  of  the  living  Christ,  now  calling  you 


34  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

to  make  an  unconditional  and  immediate 
dedication  of  all  your  powers  and  possessions 
unto  the  work  of  fulfilling  his  redemption  in 
an  unbelieving  world.  I  am  not  asking  you 
to  agree  with  any  set  of  opinions,  nor  whether 
you  are  a  member  of  a  church,  or  ignorant  or 
wise;  I  ask  you,  yea,  in  Christ's  stead  I  be- 
seech you,  to  make  a  surrender  of  yourself 
that  shall  be  unreserved  and  complete,  keep- 
ing nothing  back.  I  plead  with  you  to  go 
from  here  with  Christ  as  your  Master,  as  well 
as  Saviour,  to  work  with  him  in  the  holy 
determination  that  your  occupation,  whatever 
it  may  be,  shall  be  a  communion  with  God; 
that  the  city  in  which  you  live  shall  be  a  city 
of  God;  that  the  church  you  make  your  home 
shall  flash  far  and  wide  the  flame  of  the 
Christ-Spirit.  I  appeal  to  you  to  take  the 
mission  of  Jesus  as  your  mission,  and  live  to 
make  this  world  in  which  you  live  a  new 
world.  Whatever  your  circumstances  or 
temptations;  be  your  past  what  it  may,  your 
future  to  you  uncertain;  though  many  your 
doubts  and  fearful  your  struggles;  however 
long  you  may  have  been  at  ease,  and  walked 
your  own  religious  way;  be  you  in  the  church 


THE  C/4LL  OF  THE  CROSS  35 

or  out  of  it;  I  entreat  you  to  present  yourself 
a  living  sacrifice  to  the  slain  Christ,  and  re- 
ceive grace  whereby  you  may  offer  well-pleas, 
ing  service  unto  God.  You  have  no  right  to 
suit  the  convenience  of  your  opinions  or  cir- 
cumstances. You  are  bought  with  a  price, 
and  are  not  your  own.  You  belong  to  God; 
and  one  is  your  Master,  even  Jesus,  who 
pleased  not  himself,  but  for  the  joy  of  serving 
endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame  of 
worldly  scorn  and  failure. 

However  narrow  your  sphere  of  life,  how- 
ever grinding  your  occupation  and  hard  your 
daily  task,  there  is  room  for  you  to  quit  your- 
self as  a  man  of  the  cross  in  this  world  of 
strife  and  want.  You  have  the  same  re- 
sources, and  a  vaster  scope  for  your  powers, 
than  the  apostles  who  went  out  to  Geth- 
semane  with  their  Lord,  on  the  night  of  his 
betrayal.  There  is  work,  and  to  spare,  and 
reason  for  sacrifice,  for  all  souls  brave  enough 
to  follow  the  conquering  Christ  through  the 
great  doors  of  opportunity  the  questions  of 
our  day  are  swinging  open  for  the  leadership 
of  the  sons  of  God.  We  live  in  a  world  that 
has  well-nigh  won  the  church  which  was  sent 


36  THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS 

to  conquer  it.  And  the  church  which  bears 
Christ's  name  is  coming  to  the  end  of  its  old 
ease-loving  and  self-satisfied  way  of  living, 
with  the  ideal  of  the  cultured  pagan  substi- 
tuted for  the  changeless  cross,  and  must  be 
started  upon  a  new  career  of  action  by  apos- 
tles who  dare  make  themselves  of  no  reputa- 
tion, that  they  may  lift  the  cross  anew  above 
the  wisdom  and  customs  of  the  world. 
Worthless  as  we  feel  ourselves  to  be,  the 
Lord  hath  need  of  you  and  me  in  this  match- 
less work.  However  fettered  by  circum- 
stances, though  helpless  we  feel  before  the 
arrogant  forces  of  evil,  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
come  upon  us  in  power  if  we  arise  and  go 
hence  from  this  room  and  hour  with  self- 
emptied  souls  at  the  bidding  of  the  Lord 
Christ. 

The  calling  cross  stands  waiting  for  you  and 
me  to  go  and  have  our  wills  nailed  upon  it, 
that  we  may  witness  for  the  saving  Christ  in 
the  power  of  a  deeper  experience.  Into  the 
sanctuary  of  our  souls  there  comes,  this 
morning,  the  Christ  of  our  redemption,  ap- 
pealing to  our  gratitude  and  loyalty,  our  man- 
hood and  womanhood.      By  the  power  of  his 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  CROSS  37 

pierced  hands;  by  his  deathless  love  which 
took  into  itself  the  suffering  of  our  sins; 
by  the  sorrow  that  broke  his  heart,  and  the 
blood  that  flowed  from  his  side;  by  the 
sublime  opportunities  for  service,  and  the 
perils  which  cry  aloud  to  the  sleeping  church 
from  the  future;  by  the  wide  wastes  of 
human  woe,  and  the  hungry  voices  of  human 
need;  by  the  great  harvests  of  human  souls 
that  wait  for  loving  hands  to  reap; — by  these, 
and  countless  more,  the  living  Christ  speaks 
to  our  devotion,  calling  us  to  go  hence  with 
him  as  our  Master,  and  we  his  loyal  subjects. 
The  word  I  bring  you,  at  this  time,  is  not 
mine,  but  his  who  calls  and  sends.  It  is  the 
call  of  the  cross,  sounding  down  through  the 
centuries,  growing  sweeter  with  each  new 
crisis,  articulate  with  judgment,  victory  and 
peace.  The  changeless  cross  of  the  living 
Christ  calls  you  and  me,  this  very  hour,  to  a 
larger  life  of  sacrifice,  prayer  and  action. 
Arise,  let  us  go  hence. 


II    • 

TJie  Qjiestion  of  the  Ages 


So  Donal  lives  a  present  power  of  heat  and  light  in  the 
place.  Most  of  his  early  friends  are  gone,  but  he  wears  yet 
the  same  solemn  look,  with  the  same  hovering  smile.  It  seems 
to  say  to  those  who  can  read  it,  "I  know  in  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved." And  he  in  whom  he  believed  more  and  more  was 
that  God  who  is  the  Father  of  the  Lord.  His  life  was  hid 
with  Christ  in  God,  and  he  had  no  anxiety  about  anything. 
The  wheels  of  the  coming  chariot,  moving  slow  or  fast  to  fetch 
him,  were  always  moving;  and  whether  it  arrived  at  night,  or 
at  cock-crowing,  or  in  the  full  blaze  of  noon,  is  all  one  to  him. 
He  is  ready  for  the  new  life  his  Arctura  knows.  "God  is," 
he  will  say,  coming  out  of  one  of  his  talking  moods;  "God  is, 
and  all  is  well."  When  he  has  said  that,  he  never  says  any- 
thing more,  but  listens  only  to  those  about  him.  He  never 
disputes,  rarely  seeks  to  convince.  "I  will  do  what  I  can  to 
let  what  light  I  have  shine;  but  disputation  is  smoke,  and 
serves  only  to  obscure  the  light.  It  is  to  no  profit — and  I  do 
like,"  he  will  say,  "to  give  and  to  get  the  good  of  things!" 

— George  MacDonald. 


II 


The  Question  of  the  Ages 

Pilate  said  unto  them,   What    then  shall  I  do  with  Jesus, 
which  is  called  Christ?     They  all  say,  Let  him  be  crucified.— 


This  was  a  question  Pilate  had  no  right  to 
ask.  The  final  judgment  of  the  case  of  Jesus 
rested  with  himself.  The  attempt  to  evade 
his  responsibility  by  casting  it  upon  the  Jews 
was  shameful  and  cowardly.  The  washing  of 
his  hands  before  the  multitude,  instead  of  ac- 
quitting him  of  Christ's  blood,  was  Pilate's 
self-condemnation.  It  was  for  him,  not  the 
rabble,  to  decide  what  should  be  done  with 
Christ.  In  turning  from  the  decision  of  his 
conscience  to  the  clamors  of  the  envious 
priests;  in  listening  to  the  voice  of  the  mob 
rather  than  the  divine  voice  that  was  speak- 
ing in  his  soul;  in  consulting  his  political 
safety  rather  than  what  he  knew  to  be  justice, 
Pilate  partook  of  the  guilt   of  the  Jews.      In 


42  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

the  crisis  of  his  Hfe,  in  the  supreme  moment 
of  history,  in  one  of  the  subHmest  opportu- 
nities God  ever  gave  to  man  for  moral  great- 
ness, Pilate  failed. 

Nor  can  it  be  said  in  his  justification  that 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  a  foregone  conclu- 
sion, divinely  decreed  before  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  and  determined  upon  by  the  Jews 
even  at  the  cost  of  rebellion  against  the 
Roman  authorities.  He  cannot  be  excused 
on  the  ground  that  all  Jerusalem  would  had 
to  have  been  sacrificed  had  not  Christ  been 
delivered  up.  He  believed  in  Christ's  inno- 
cence of  moral  sin  or  legal  crime.  As  a  min- 
ister of  justice  it  was  his  duty,  as  a  Roman 
governor  it  would  have  been  to  his  honor,  to 
protect  Christ  from  persecution  and  violence, 
though  it  cost  him  his  own  life. 

The  answer  to  Pilate's  question  was  freight- 
ed with  vaster  consequences  than  the  replying 
Jews  understood.  The  chief  men  of  Israel 
did  not  know,  what  was  nevertheless  true, 
that  the  destiny  of  their  nation  and  the  fate 
of  their  religion  depended  upon  their  decision 
concerning  Christ.  Their  rejection  of  Christ 
was  a  revelation  of  their  own  murderous  self- 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES  43 

ishness  and  hopeless  hypocrisy.  In  reject- 
ing Christ,  they  rejected  the  highest  mani- 
festation of  God's  goodness.  When  they 
cried  unto  Pilate  their  willingness  to  have 
the  blood  of  Christ  rest  upon  themselves 
and  their  children  they  were  unknowingly 
prophesying  the  fate  which  befell  their  chil- 
dren, and  the  dreadful  destruction  which 
came  to  their  city  and  temple  a  few  years 
later,  when  besieged  and  taken  by  Titus  and 
his  Roman  legions.  Then  uncounted  thou- 
sands perished  by  fire  and  sword  and  famine, 
and  mothers  mad  with  hunger  ate  their  babes, 
and  the  Jewish  nation  became  extinct;  the 
people  filled  up  the  measure  of  their  father's 
iniquity,  to  become  wanderers  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth,  which  they  are  to  this  day. 

Do  not  think  by  this  that  God  arbitrarily 
punishes  men  for  intellectual  unbelief.  I 
wish  I  might  dispel  such  a  notion,  right  here, 
from  your  thoughts  forever.  The  teaching 
that  God  accepts  or  rejects  men  on  account 
of  their  religious  opinions  is  a  frightful  per- 
version of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  It  is  not 
upon  the  forms  in  which  we  apprehend  or 
misapprehend  the  truth  that  eternal  judgment 


44  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  /IGES 

is  passed;  but  upon  the  attitude  of  soul  which 
lies  behind  all  belief  and  unbelief.  A  man 
may  have  intellectual  doubts  about  the  truth 
he  believes  in  and  lives  by;  he  may  build  his 
character  out  of  moral  stuff  which  he  has 
never  been  able  to  analyze.  And  the  most 
Christless  living,  the  most  heartless  infidelity 
I  have  ever  seen,  stalked  about  in  an  impene- 
trable garb  of  orthodoxy. 

Salvation  through  faith  in  Christ  is  as  sim- 
ple as  the  law  of  gravity.  Christ  is  the  mag- 
net which  God  passes  over  the  souls  and 
institutions  of  men,  revealing  their  moral 
quality.  When  a  soul  is  brought  face  to 
face  with  Christ,  the  attitude  it  assumes  to- 
wards Christ  reveals  its  inmost  spiritual  sub- 
stance. The  moment  he  appears,  when  his 
call  comes  to  follow  him  in  living  to  do  good 
to  others  and  deny  self,  the  way  in  which  we 
look  upon  him  and  hear  and  heed  his  call  is 
a  manifestation  of  our  real  character.  As 
many  as  repent  and  turn  unto  him  are  saved, 
because  they  reveal  that  beneath  all  the  folly 
and  shame,  the  hate  and  deceit,  the  waste 
and  misery,  there  is  alive  within  them  a  moral 
essence     like    the    essence    of    Christ.     The 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES  45 

most  fallen  life  that  creeps  in  the  moral  dark- 
ness of  the  earth,  the  vilest  creature  that 
wears  a  human  face,  if  he  looks  at  the  life  of 
Christ  and  sees  therein  what  he  longs  to  be 
like,  no  matter  how  feeble  and  hesitating  the 
hands  of  faith  that  reach  piteously  up  to  the 
divine  mercy,  he  reveals  at  once  that  inside 
of  his  corruption  and  weakness  is  a  living 
germ  of  the  divine  life;  for  Christ  has  never 
drawn,  nor  can  he  ever  draw,  a  soul  to  him- 
self "that  has  not  something  of  the  Christ- 
nature  within.  But  if  a  man  sees  in  Christ 
what  he  does  not  want  to  be,  if  the  life  of 
Christ  is  not  such  as  he  would  give  his  all  to 
live,  then  he  does  not  in  any  vital  sense,  be- 
lieve in  Christ;  his  opinions  as  to  what  Christ 
was,  or  who  he  is,  have  nothing  to  do  with  his 
salvation  from  sin,  and  its  wages  of  death.  If 
there  is  no  affinity  between  a  soul  and  Christ, 
if  the  soul's  hard  selfishness  is  not  melted  by 
the  supreme  manifestation  of  God's  goodness 
in  Christ,  then  the  soul  is  lost,  though  its  re- 
ligious opinions  m.eet  the  unqualified  endorse- 
ment of  all  the  scribes  of  traditionalism. 
Christ  cannot  help  himself  in  the  matter  of 
judging  it  lost.      Being   what  he  is,  he  cannot 


46  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

judge  otherwise  than  he  does.  The  judgments 
of  Christ  are  something  infinitely  more  serious 
and  divine,  more  reasonable  and  natural,  than 
a  judgment  upon  our  theological  beliefs  and 
unbeliefs.  Christ's  judgment  is  a  bringing  to 
light  our  real  self,  whether  it  be  good  or  evil; 
a  calling  forth  of  the  man  or  the  woman  hid- 
den from  the  eyes  of  the  world  by  theological 
clothes  and  religious  etiquette.  Customs 
and  opinions,  books  and  clothes,  creeds  and 
manners,  count  for  nothing  in  the  presence 
of  Christ.  True  and  righteous  altogether  are 
his  judgments.  It  is  this  tremendous  fact  of 
the  righteousness  of  his  judgments  which 
makes  our  dallying  with  our  opportunities  to 
know  and  serve  Christ  supremely  awful. 
A  man's  moral  attitude  toward  Christ  is  a 
perfect  revelation  of  what  the  man  is.  Christ 
himself  is  God's  eternal  judgment  upon 
human  character. 

What  shall  I  do  with  Christ  ?  Every  prob- 
lem of  life  reduces  itself  to  this  question. 
Every  soul  is  a  judgment-hall  wherein  Christ 
is  always  on  trial.  Life  with  each  of  us  is  a 
continuous  crucifixion  or  a  continuous  ex- 
altation of  Christ.     Whether  we  so  intend  it 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  /1GES  47 

or  not,  every  thought,  word,  or  deed,  is  an 
answer  to  Pilate's  question.  In  every  step, 
so  far  as  my  life  counts,  I  am  deciding  the 
fate  of  Christ  in  the  world;  either  defeating 
or  fulfilling  the  eternal  purpose  of  God  con- 
cerning the  world.  What  will  or  will  not  be- 
come of  me,  whether  what  I  am  doing  or  not 
doing  is  right  or  wrong,  is  not  the  real  state- 
ment of  the  question  that  always  confronts 
me.  Every  word  and  deed  of  mine  inwraps 
the  destiny  of  the  race,  and  is  a  judgment 
upon  Christ.  Every  compromise  with  wrong, 
every  tolerance  with  sin,  every  failure  to  be 
a  brother  to  my  fellow-men,  is  a  betrayal  of 
Christ  to  his  enemies.  Every  selfishly  spoken 
word,  every  selfishly  done  deed,  is  a  new 
crucifixion  of  our  Lord. 

You  have  a  business  transaction  in  hand. 
What  will  you  do  with  Christ  in  that.^  You 
cannot  act  as  though  he  were  not;  for  he  was, 
and  is,  and  is  to  come.  He  has  bought  you 
with  an  unreckonable  price.  Out  of  the  sac- 
rificial agony  of  his  great  soul  was  your  re- 
demption born.  You  belong  to  him,  every 
breath  of  your  being.  You  can  have  no  spirit- 
ual existence  apart  from   him.      You   can   be 


48  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

nothing  good,  nor  do  nothing  right,  that  is 
not  the  impulse  of  his  Spirit.  The  least  that 
you  can  do  to  show  that  you  cherish  his  great 
salvation  is  to  make  his  presence  manifest  in 
every  affair  of  your  life.  Nothing  short  of 
his  absolute  supremacy  in  this  business  deal- 
ing is  honorable.  What  will  you  do  with 
him.^  Will  you  make  this  trade  a  confession 
of  your  faith  in  Christ,  of  your  confidence  in 
the  practicability  of  his  Golden  Rule,  or  make 
it  simply  a  matter  of  gain.?  You  have  afflic- 
tions. Will  you  commit  the  sin  of  consuming 
in  idle,  selfish  grief  the  strength 'that  belongs 
to  him  to  use  in  blessing  others.'*  Will  you 
make  the  thorns  in  your  flesh  the  ministers  of 
his  glory,  or  the  witnesses  of  your  selfishness.'* 
You  sustain  relations  to  your  fellow-children 
in  Christ.  Shall  Christ  or  self  rule  in  your 
affections  and  friendships.?  Will  you  make 
Christ  the  joy  of  your  human  fellowships,  or 
will  you  sink  to  the  degradation  of  using  them 
only  as  a  means  of  enjoyment.?  Has  Christ 
been  crucified  or  enthroned  in  your  earthly 
relationships.?  What  will  you  do  with  Christ 
when  you  go  to  places  of  amusement .?  What 
will  you  do  with  Christ  when  you  buy  and  sell? 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  /1GES  49 

Have  you  placed  your  ballot  in  the  palm  that 
was  pierced  for  you?  You  can  think  nothing, 
love  nothing,  decide  nothing,  that  is  not  either 
a  rejection  or  acceptance  of  Christ. 

And,  while  you  are  considering  this  ques- 
tion, let  me  ask  you  to  keep  in  mind  that  you 
are  deciding  the  fate  of  a  living,  and  not  a 
dead  Christ.  He  is  the  same  human  Christ 
to-day  as  when  he  toiled  at  Capernaum  or 
rested  at  Bethany.  His  relation  t^  men  is 
not  different  now  from  what  it  was  when  he 
taught  the  multitudes  on  the  mountain.  He 
lives  as  a  man;  he  lives  as  our  Master,  in 
whom  God  still  treasures  all  hidden  knowl- 
edge; he  lives  as  a  Redeemer,  showing  us  the 
Father,  revealing  us  to  ourselves.  He  is  with 
you  always.  He  is  here  this  morning.  What 
to  do  with  him  is  a  question  as  inevitable  in 
your  life  as  it  was  in  the  life  of  Pilate.  As 
truly  as  Pilate  you  are  sitting  in  judgment 
upon  a  living  Christ,  to-day,  and  deciding, 
so  far  as  you  are  concerned,  his  acceptance 
or  rejection  by  the  world.  What  will  you 
do  with  him? 

Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  Pilate,  the 
lines  of  inward  conflict  are  clearly  drawn.     It 


50  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

is  clearly  seen  that  upon  a  single  decision 
depends  the  destiny  of  Christ  in  the  life. 
And  there  is,  besides,  the  consciousness,  or 
fear,  that  vast  and  unseen  interests  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  are  involved  in  the  conflict. 
A  man  is  sometimes  overborne  with  the  feel- 
ing, which  he  cannot  rid  himself  of,  nor  yet 
understand,  that  he  is  deciding  larger  things 
than  he  knows  of.  A  soul  sometimes  finds 
itself  staggering  under  the  weight  of  great  re- 
sponsibilities, while  ignorant  of  what  they  are. 
Every  man  who  has  heeded  Christ's  call  to 
surrender,  and  gird  himself  for  a  divine  work, 
has  had  to  choose,  sometime  and  somewhere, 
between  crucifixion  with  Christ  and  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  and  their  glory.  While 
the  whole  life  seemed  condensed  into  a  su- 
preme and  solitary  struggle,  the  Lord  suffered 
Satan  to  press  into  one  cup  all  the  essence  of 
the  joy  and  sweetness  of  the  world;  all  the 
heart  craved;  all  the  soul  yearned  to  possess. 
Eager  hands  of  quenchless  passion  reached 
to  seize  and  drink  the  cup.  Just  then  Christ 
passed  to  the  soul  his  own  cup— the  cup  of 
absolute  death  to  the  world;  of  entire  surren- 
der of  all  selfish  interest    in    everything    that 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  /tGES  51 

would  have  made  life  glad   and   glorious   and 
strong.      Would  the  soul  drink  of  the   cup    of 
the  world's  joy  and  glory,  or  of  the  cup  Christ 
gives  it?      Could  not  some  drops  of  worldly 
bliss  be  mixed  in  the  cup  of  Christ?  No.      Did 
it  need  to  be  drunk  to    the    last   drop?     Yes. 
The  issue  was  clearly   defined,  and  there  was 
no  mistaking  it.      Either  self    or    Christ    had 
to  be  crucified.     As  the  conflict  deepened,  all 
the    truth  of  Christ,  all    the    power  of  faith, 
all  the    soul's    hope    of    a    resurrection,  was 
called  upon    to    stand    up    and    prove    itself. 
Great  gaps  appeared  in  the  soul's    faith,  and 
depthless    abysses    about    it    yawned.      But 
when  the  crisis  had   done   its  work,  and    the 
soul  came  forth  with  the  bonds   of    the  world 
broken,  and  the    sacrifice    of   self    complete, 
it  found  itself  ensphered  with  the  freedom    of 
God,  and    borne    on  by   the    deep    sweep    of 
God's  Spirit.      And    if  this  experience  I  have 
been  rudely  describing  is  unreal  to  you,  think 
not  that   it   will   always   be   so.      Every  soul 
great  and  daring  enough,    as   every   soul   can 
be,  needs  to  be  watching  as  one  who  expects, 
yet  knows  not  when,  the  Lord  may  appear  to 
it  in  some  vast  spiritual   crisis,  out   of  which 


52        •        THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

it  will  issue  like  Pilate,  the  master  opportunity 
of  life  irrecoverably  gone,  or  come  forth  a 
new  soul,  strong  in  the  delight  of  its  own 
triumph,  and  the  joy  of  the  Lord  its  strength. 
And  the  rich,  new  life  born  out  of  the  anguish 
of  such  an  experience — just  a  year  of  such 
life — is  worth  a  myriad  ages  of  the  unheroic 
professional  Christianity  that  is  the  staple  of 
our  modern  churches. 

But  in  whatever  ways  we  are  deciding, 
whether  in  our  common  tasks,  or  in  great 
moral  crises,  we  are  each  moment,  as  I  said 
to  you  when  I  began,  giving  our  decision  as 
to  what  shall  be  the  destiny  of  Christ  in  the 
life  of  the  world. 

Whenever  we  turn  from  the  divine  voice 
within  our  souls,  the  answer  will  always  be. 
Let  him  be  crucified.  We  crucify  Christ 
when  we  refer  the  question  of  what  we  shall 
do  with  him  to  some  experience  in  the  past, 
What  shall  I  do  with  Christ,  is  always  a  pres- 
ent question.  It  always  demands  a  present 
answer.  We  cannot  make  some  past  con- 
secration a  substitute  for  a  present  decision. 
Yesterday's  experience  will  not  answer  for 
to-day's  call  for  reconsecration.     No  conver- 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES  53 

sion  is  safe  that  is  not  followed  by  a  con- 
tinuous self-dedication  to  Christ.  No  con- 
secration is  honest  that  is  not  made  a  point 
from  which  to  advance  to  profounder  conse- 
crations. No  victory  can  be  secured  except 
by  greater  victories.  No  deliverance  is  lasting 
that  does  not  prove  itself  by  delivering  others. 
No  salvation  is  eternal  that  is  not  tremblingly 
wrought  out  by  the  inworking  energy  of  God, 
No  faith  is  more  than  an  indolent  profession 
that  does  not  speak  to  the  world  in  loving 
service.  It  is  useless  to  you  to  have  been 
born  again  unless  you  keep  growing  again. 
God's  Christ  and  man's  need  are  the  two 
changeless  facts  of  all  spiritual  growth.  What 
you  did  with  Christ  yesterday  is  no  reply  to 
the  question  of  what  you  will  do  with  Christ 
to-day.  To  try  to  make  the  past  answer  for 
the  present,  is  a  piece  of  moral  cowardice 
as  childish  as  Pilate's  washing  of  his  hands. 
Neither  can  we  depend  upon  our  nearest 
friends  to  decide  for  us  what  we  shall  do  with 
Christ.  The  best  of  them  will  unknowingly 
advise  his  crucifixion  when  they  see  the  cru- 
cifixion of  self  to  be  the  other  alternative. 
Few  friends  are  divinely  true  enough  to   look 


54  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

beyond  the  pains  and  losses,  and  rejoice  in 
the  griefs  and  disappointments  of  those  they 
love,  and  see  the  ennobled  character  which 
God  is  forming  in  the  furnace.  It  is  a  rare 
son  that  has  an  Abraham  for  a  father,  willing 
to  put  the  knife  to  all  his  son's  worldly  hopes 
in  order  that  the  will  of  God  may  be  done  in 
his  son's  life  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.  It  is 
an  uncommon  friend  that  can  thrust  the  one 
he  loves  best  into  the  consuming  flames  of 
divine  purification.  The  highest  expression 
of  friendship  ever  uttered  upon  earth  was  that 
of  our  Lord  in  his  Intercessory  Prayer:  "I 
pray  not  that  thou  shouldst  take  them  out  of 
the  world,  but  that  thou  shouldst  keep  them 
from  the  evil."  The  great  human  heart  of 
Christ  yearned  to  enfold  those  stricken  and 
bewildered  disciples  and  bear  them  out  of  the 
tribulation  and  sorrow  which  he  knew  they 
must  endure  because  of  their  love  for  him. 
When  he  put  aside  those  impulses,  and  com- 
mitted them  with  perfect  trust  unto  his  Father 
and  their  Father,  willing  to  have  them  sacri- 
ficed as  he  was  being  sacrificed,  rejoicing  to 
have  them  suffer  for  redemption's  sake  as 
he  had    suffered,    he  shows  us  the  friendship 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 


for  man  which  springs  from  the  heart  of  God. 
But  seldom  do  our  friends  bless  us  with  this 
deepest  and  divinest  quality  of  friendship. 
Rarely  do  they  fail  to  mix  the  world's  wis- 
dom with  the  wisdom  of  the  gospel  in  their 
advice.  Only  the  Word  that  was  in  Christ, 
and  seeks  to  dwell  in  you  and  me,  can  tell 
us  what  to  do   with   Christ. 

Surely  the  world  cannot  tell  us  what  to  do 
with  Christ.  It  has  always  clamored  for  his 
crucifixion;  and  all  our  selfish  impulses  join  in 
the  clamor.  And  the  larger  the  power  of 
Christ  in  the  world,  the  greater  the  manifesta- 
tions of  his  glory,  the  angrier  will  be  the  de- 
mand for  his  crucifixion.  The  devils  always 
tear  a  man  most  violently  just  before  Christ 
casts  them  out.  The  more  fully  Christ  gets 
things  in  order  to  deliver  the  world  from  the 
last  of  evil,  and  turn  the  key  on  the  pit  of 
darkness,  the  more  boastful  and  desperate 
grow  the  demons  of  wickedness.  There  has 
never  been  such  a  cry  for  the  death  of  the 
living  Christ  as  there  is  in  our  day,  because 
there  is  a  feeling  abroad  in  the  world  that 
Christ  holds  the  key  that  alone  can  unlock 
the  problems  of  the  nations.      Society  would 


56  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

crucify  his  authority  because  the  times  are 
instinct  with  the  approaching  doom  of  selfish- 
ness. Politicians  affect  to  despise  the  eternal 
legislation  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  be- 
cause the  people  are  beginning  to  discern  the 
moral  humbuggery  of  a  vast  deal  of  what  has 
hitherto  passed  in  the  world  for  statesman- 
ship. Even  the  rulers  of  the  church  appear 
to  be  willing  that  Christ  should  be  delivered 
to  his  enemies  rather  than  that  their  creeds 
should  be  crucified.  So  the  world,  in  none 
of  its  spheres,  can  rightly  tell  you  what  to  do 
with  Christ.  It  will,  at  its  best,  tell  you  that 
you  do  not  need  to  be  stretched  upon  Christ's 
cross  of  self-renunciation,  which  is  the  first 
law  of  discipleship.  At  its  worst,  it  will 
scornfully  repudiate  Christ's  doctrine  of  self- 
sacrifice,  which  is  the  essence  of  the  gospel. 
What  to  do  with  Christ  is  the  question  of 
the  ages.  It  is  the  master  question  of  our 
generation.  God  seems  in  these  later  days 
to  be  tightening  his  grip  on  the  reins  of  human 
affairs,  and  to  be  driving  the  race  with  the 
swiftness  of  judgment  to  choose  between  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  and  no  government  at  all; 
between  the  absolute  reign  of  Christ  and   the 


THE  QUESTION  OE  THE  AGES  57 

anarchy  of  absolute  atheism.  Though  the 
world  may  try  to  evade  the  real  issue,  try  to 
shut  its  eyes  to  the  divine  signals,  try  to  halt 
between  mammon  and  Christ,  yet  the  inevi- 
table issue  of  the  swiftly  converging  crises  of 
history  will  be  the  acceptance  of  Christ's  law 
of  love,  with  its  thousand  years  of  peace,  or 
the  triumph  of  the  world-spirit  of  selfishness 
with  its  universal  confusion  and  violence. 
The  problems  of  our  times  are  essentially  the 
old  conflict  between  Christianity  and  heathen- 
ism, refined  and  intensified.  Believe  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,  is 
God's  answer  to  all  modern  questions.  God 
is  pushing  the  church  to  the  point  where  it 
must  exalt  the  supremacy  of  Christ  as  the 
king  unto  whom  every  knee  must  bow,  and 
every  affair  of  man  be  subject,  or  crucify  the 
Lord  afresh  and  bring  upon  itself  a  judgment 
that  shall  not  leave  one  stone  of  its  goodly 
temples  upon  another.  The  separation  of 
life  from  religion,  the  division  of  human  affairs 
into  secular  and  spiritual,  the  artificial  and 
immoral  meanings  which  have  been  put  into 
the  word  faith,  the  conception  of  redemption 
as  a  bridge   between   heaven   and  earth — this 


58  THE  QUESTIOhl  OF  THE  AGES 

is  the  infidelity  which  the  church  has  fostered, 
and  which  has  given  rise  to  the  suspicion  that 
Christ  is  not  fairly  represented  by  Christen- 
dom. I  am  sometimes  oppressed  with  the 
fear  that  the  church  is  sleeping  within  the 
gates  of  Gethsemane,  while  the  soul  of  Christ 
agonizes  in  the  birth-throes  of  some  huge  and 
universal  crisis  that  is  about  to  spring  upon 
the  earth,  separating  the  true  and  faithful 
from  the  false  and  faithless.  It  may  be  that 
some  of  us  will  live  to  see  the  approach  of 
Christ  in  some  event  that  will  make  the  earth 
pause  and  tremble,  and  decide  what  manner 
of  men  we  are.  But  be  our  calls  to  service 
great  or  small — if  there  can  be  opportunities 
for  good  that  are  small — we  need,  above  all 
else,  to  get  close  to  Christ,  and  hear  what  he 
would  say  to  each  of  us,  and  follow  his  leader- 
ship, rejoicing  to  share  his  fate  at  the  hands 
of  our  generation, toiling  with  that  victorious 
faith  which  can  smile  while  the  world  works 
its  worst  upon  it.  He  gives  us  no  time  to 
unravel  the  past  or  question  the  future.  He 
calls  us  to  leave  all  at  once  and  follow  him, 
from  thought  to  thought,  from  deed  to  deed, 
caring  not   for  reputation   or    happiness,  but 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  /fGES  59 

absorbed  altogether  in  that  divinest  of  human 
motives — the  redemption  of  the  world  in  his 
name. 

I  have  not  asked  you,  dear  friends,  to  con- 
sider what  Christ  may  do  with  you.  That 
would  be  indeed  a  question  of  great  and  seri- 
ous moment.  What  becomes  of  your  soul  is 
a  question  in  which  God  and  all  the  universe 
are  interested.  But  your  soul's  salvation 
has  been  pressed  upon  your  concern  times 
without  number.  And  the  religious  thought 
of  the  past  few  years  has  undergone  a  great 
change  in  its  ways  of  apprehending  Christ. 
We  are  trying  to  say,  "1  am  Christ's,"  as  well 
as,  "Christ  is  mine,"  and  say  it  with  a  new 
emphasis  and  larger  meaning.  We  are  be- 
ginning to  dimly  see  and  understand  some- 
thing of  what  our  Lord  meant  by  saying  that 
the  truly  saved  life  is  the  one  that  has  been 
lost.  A  religion  that  is  occupied  with  no 
more  than  the  saving  of  one's  soul  is  not 
Christian,  whatever  else  it  may  be.  What 
will  or  will  not  become  of  your  soul  is  only 
the  beginning  of  what  is  involved  in  your  de- 
cisions. They  affect  the  whole  kingdom  of 
God.      Every     moral     victory   of   yours   is   a 


GO  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

triumph  for  the  race.  All  humanity  shares 
in  the  shame  or  the  glory  of  your  deeds.  No 
man  ever  casts  the  wealth  of  his  life  and  the 
crown  of  his  devotion  at  the  feet  of  Jesus 
•without  quickening  the  earth  with  a  diviner 
life,  and  uplifting  it  with  new  courage. 

So,  it  is  not  alone  for  your  soul's  sake  that 
I  ask  you  to  cast  in  your  lot  with  Christ.  It 
is  for  the  sake  of  the  living  Christ  himself  who 
has  bought  your  allegiance  with  his  blood,  to 
whom  you  belong,  body  and  soul,  heart  and 
brain,  that  I  appeal  to  you  to  give  him  the 
life  which  is  justly  his.  He  has  earned  his 
right  to  your  life;  he  has  won  his  kingship 
over  the  world,  and  them  that  dwell  therein. 
Your  king  appears,  in  this  morning  of  match- 
less need  and  peerless  opportunities,  to  claim 
your  loving  loyalty  and  grateful  obedience  as 
a  reasonable  service.  He  is  doing  the  same 
work  to-day  that  he  did  when  followed  by 
Peter  and  John.  He  needs  the  same  quality 
of  discipleship  from  you  and  me  that  he  asked 
of  them;  the  same  heroic  personal  devotion, 
the  same  enthusiasm  for  righteousness,  the 
same  self-abandonment  in  service.  You  have 
no   right    to   revolve   about   the   question    of 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  /iGES  01 

personal  salvation  in  the  presence  of  the  slain 
Christ,  who  calls  for  you  to  deny  yourself  and 
follow  him,  in  overcoming  the  world  for  God. 
It  is  Christ  who  is  on  trial  in  the  courts  of 
your  mind.  Out  of  moral  necessity  your  judg- 
ment upon  Christ  will  be  Christ's  judgment 
upon  you.  He  could  not  make  it  otherwise 
if  he  would. 

And  not  only  for  his  sake,  but  for  the  sake 
of  the  world  which  he  has  redeemed,  do  I  ask 
you  to  ally  yourself  with  Christ.  It  was  for 
the  redemption  of  Israel  that  Peter  and  John 
followed  Christ.  It  was  for  his  disciples'  sakes 
Christ  sanctified  himself  unto  the  Father. 
It  was  for  the  redemption  of  a  lost  world  he 
joyfully  endured  the  cross  and  despised  its 
shame.  And  to  the  measure  of  your  capacity  you 
are  as  responsible  for  tJie  fate  of  the  world  as 
Jesus  was.  You  have  no  more  right  to  make 
your  soul's  safety  your  fundamental  object 
than  Jesus  had.  For  the  sake  of  all  your  fel- 
low-men you  are  morally  bound  to  follow  this 
Christ.  No  man  liveth  or  dieth  unto  himself. 
The  race  is  one  as  your  body  is  one.  Just  so 
surely  as  no  member  of  your  body  can  suffer 
without  the  whole  body  being  weakened,  that 


62  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

surely  no  man  sins  without  every  human  be- 
ing suffering  pain  and  moral  weakness.  The 
race  must  stand  or  fall  together.  Without 
regard  to  your  intention,  you  are  in  ways  un- 
known forming  the  characters  and  making  the 
histories  of  unnumbered  lives.  You  are  living 
for  the  weal  or  woe  of  the  earth.  Your  words 
and  deeds  are  as  far  reaching  as  life.  You  are 
sent,  as  Jesus  was  sent,  charged  with  the  eter- 
nal responsibility  of  making  God  glorious  in 
the  eyes  of  men  by  manifesting  him  in  your 
life.  For  the  sake  of  the  lives  you  touch,  for 
good  or  ill,  I  beseech  you  to  follow  the  call- 
ing Christ. 

What  will  you  do  with  this  Christ.?  He  is 
now  on  trial  in  your  soul.  The  final  judgment 
of  his  case  rests  with  you  alone.  Would  that 
I  might  say  some  word  to  turn  the  scale  of 
your  judgment  in  his  favor!  I  have  tried  this 
Christ  of  ours,  and  know  him  to  be  true.  I 
have  found  his  promises  more  than  fulfilled. 
His  sufficiency  has  been  greater  than  my  needs. 
The  word  of  life  I  bring  you  is  what  I  have 
handled,  and  I  know  it  is  able  to  make  the 
humblest  life  of  sternest  toil  a  song  of  God. 

What  will  you  do  with  Christ.?  This  is  the 


THt  QUESTION  Oh  THE  AGES  G3 

question  that  is  sounding  in  every  modern 
question.  It  is  a  question  I  hear  when  I  place 
my  ear  upon  the  earth  and  hear  the  steady 
march  of  coming  revolutions.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion which  will  answer  every  other  question 
of  your  life.  It  is  the  question  I  bring  you, 
this  morning,  from  the  heart  of  God.  It  is 
the  question  that  is  borne  to  you  upon  every 
wail  of  human  woe  and  every  cry  of  human 
need.  It  is  the  question  your  sciences  are 
writing  on  your  brains,  and  your  dollars  burn- 
ing on  your  palms;  that  stares  at  you  from 
every  printed  page,  and  leaps  in  every  pulse- 
beat,  and  appeals  to  every  instinct  of  human 
nobleness.  It  is  the  question  that  gathers  an 
eternity  into  every  moment,  and  invests  the 
smallest  deed  and  idlest  word  with  an  infinite 
significance.  It  is  the  question  you  will  decide 
to-day,  whether  you  would  or  not.  You  can- 
not escape  the  question,  nor  avoid  the  an- 
swer. Before  the  night  closes  you  in  its  rest 
you  will  have  either  crucified  or  enthroned 
the  Christ.      What  will  you  do  with  him.^ 

O,  my  brother!  come  and  clasp  hands  with 
me  and  let  us  follow  this  slain  yet  living 
Christ  in  the  victory  of  faith  that  is  conquer- 


64  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  AGES 

ing  the  earth  for  God,  and  making  it  new  for 
man.  There  will  be  conflicts  and  sorrows; 
and  as  you  come  to  know  Christ  you  will 
be  dumb  before  the  visions  you  get  of  your 
uncleanness  of  heart  and  selfishness  of  action. 
You  will  sometimes  cry  in  anguish  that  it  is 
not  meet  that  Christ's  holy  name  be  on  your 
lips;  and  nothing  will  so  stagger  your  under- 
standing as  his  willingness  to  use  you.  But 
when  the  day  of  battle  is  done,  and  the  night 
of  rest  comes  on,  we  shall  sleep  the  sweet 
sleep  of  victors,  who  were  of  good  cheer 
amidst  life's  tribulations;  who  scorned  the 
world's  defeats,  and  beat  down  its  demons  of 
doubt,  and  trampled  upon  its  dragons  of  lust, 
and  made  servants  of  its  sorrows,  and  pressed 
on  through  the  illusions  of  its  prosperity  up 
the  heights  of  faith  where  the  Son  of  God 
leads  the  way.  And  when  the  morning  breaks 
over  our  souls,  we  shall  awake  satisfied  in 
Christ's  likeness,  crowned  with  his  righteous- 
ness, the  heat  of  the  conflict  cooled  in  the 
dew  of  the  morning,  our  scars  touched  with  a 
sacred  glory,  and  our  heart-aches  healed  for- 
ever. And  from  out  the  throne  that  rules  the 
deathless    land  shall  come  forth  the  Lamb  of 


THE  QL'ESTION  OF  THE  /1GES  05 

God  to  feed  us  with  the  bread  of  love,  and 
lead  soul  to  soul  by  the  still  waters  of  un- 
troubled life. 


Ill 

The  Divine  Method  of  Cidttire 


Before  the  monstrous  wrong  he  sets  him  down — 
One  man  against  a  stone-walled  city  of  sin. 
For  centuries  those  walls  have  been  a-building; 
Smooth  porphyry,  they  slope  and  coldly  glass 
The  flying  storm  and  wheeling  sun.     No  chink, 
No  crevice  lets  the  thinnest  arrow  in. 
He  fights  alone,  and  from  the  cloudy  ramparts 
A  thousand  evil  faces  gibe  and  jeer  him. 
Let  him  lie  down  and  die.     What  is  the  right. 
And  where  is  justice  in  a  world  like  this? 
But  by  and  by,  earth  shakes  herself,  impatient; 
And  down  in  one  great  roar  of  ruin,  crash 
Watch-tower  and  citadel  and  battlements. 
When  the  red  dust  has  cleared,  the  lonely  soldier 
Stands  with  strange  thoughts  beneath  the  friendly  stars. 
— Edward  Rowland  Sill. 


Ill 

The  Divine  Method  of  Culture 

I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear 
them  now,  Howbeit  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth  iscome,he 
will  guide  you  into  all  truth.— _/(?//«  xvi:  12,  13. 

At  the  time  they  were  spoken  these  words 
doubtless  conveyed  Httle  meaning  to  the 
apostles.  He  whom  they  had  hoped  would 
redeem  Israel  was  about  to  be  taken  from 
them,  so  he  was  saying,  with  the  past  yet  a 
mystery  and  the  future  undisclosed.  Jesus  had 
trained  them  to  obey  him  as  their  king,  prom- 
ising that  his  kingdom  should  overcome  the 
world;  yet  the  rulers  had  rejected  him,  and 
now  it  seemed  that  he  was  mistaken  in  re- 
gard to  himself,  though  they  loved  and  trusted 
him  unto  the  end.  Often,  during  the  hours 
of  precious  intercourse  with  their  Lord, 
through  the  eager  days  of  hopeful  toil  in  his 
service,  it  had  seemed  to  the  disciples  that  the 


70  THE  DiyiNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

time  was  near  when  he  would  take  his  place 
on  the  throne  of  David,  and  lead  the  waiting 
populace  to  the  overthrow  of  Rome;  but  they 
were  always  disappointed.  Now  they  stood 
together  in  impenetrable  darkness,  clinging  to 
their  Lord  with  a  blind,  bewildered  and  pa- 
thetic faith — a  faith  sustained  by  a  love  too 
great  to  die.  The  nature  of  Christ's  kingdom 
and  its  weapons  of  conquest  they  had  not  yet 
grasped.  His  vision  of  a  spiritually  redeemed 
earth  had  not  yet  purified  their  hopes.  Be- 
tween the  promises  of  the  Lord  and  their  ful- 
fillment spread  a  passless  sea  of  contradic- 
tion. The  things  that  Christ  had  done  to  them, 
and  the  words  he  had  spoken,  they  under- 
stood not  They  knew  not  yet  the  scriptures, 
nor  the  meaning  of  the  Lord's  teachings,  nor 
the  reason  of  his  deeds,  nor  the  work  for 
which  he  had  chosen  them.  They  had  not 
apprehended  that  for  which  Christ  had  appre- 
hended them.  And  he  had  yet  many  things 
to  say  to  them  which  they  were  not  able  to 
bear. 

But  after  the  ascension  of  the  risen  Christ 
they  would  be  enabled  to  interpret  the  life  he 
had  lived  among  them,    and    understand   the 


THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  71 

words  he  had  spoken.  When  the  apostles 
were  humbled  under  the  hand  of  God,  their 
wills  prostrate  before  the  divine  will  and  their 
selfish  hopes  all  perished,  so  that  they  were 
ready  to  rejoice  in  whatever  God  might  teach 
them,  then  there  would  come  to  them  a  great 
inspiration,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  who 
should  guide  them  unto  all  truth.  Things  the 
apostles  could  not  bear  to  hear  while  stand- 
ing there  in  the  shadow  of  the  cross,  deeds 
waiting  their  doing  that  would  now  outrage 
their  devotion,  words  waiting  their  speaking 
that  would  now  stagger  their  understanding, 
highways  of  sacrifice  along  which  they  were 
to  toil — all  these  would  be  made  plain  to 
them  by  the  coming  of  the  Spirit,  who  would 
reward  their  surrender  and  obedience  in  light- 
ing up  their  minds  to  clearly  understand  the 
things  of  Christ.  In  other  words,  they  should 
fully  know  the  will  of  God  when  they  were 
prepared  to  do  that  will,  being  emptied  of  all 
self-will.  Obedience  would  lead  to  knowl- 
edge. They  would  learn  the  truth  by  doing 
the  truth.  The  Spirit  of  holiness,  the  Spirit 
of  truth,  would  be  their  guide  into  the  realm 
of  truth,  the  torch  to  light  them  through  the 
darkness  of  the  world. 


72  THE  DiyiNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  mind  of  God.  And 
when  the  mind  of  a  man  is  brought  into  abso- 
lute subjection  to  the  mind  of  God,  so  that  he 
is  completely  under  God's  influence,  he  is 
baptized  with  the  Holy  Spirit;  the  soul  of  the 
man  has  been  won  by  the  soul  of  God,  and 
his  thoughts  are  henceforth  God's  thoughts, 
and  the  power  of  his  life  the  power  of  God. 
Thus  the  pure  in  heart  who  see  God,  the 
meek  who  hear  the  whisper  of  God's  secrets, 
the  poor  in  spirit  who  receive  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  as  little  children,  have  a  knowledge 
of  God  that  is  unsearchable  to  the  natural 
mind — the  world  by  wisdom  knowing  not  God 
— and  wield  a  power  that  transcends  all  the 
powers  of  the  natural  man. 

God  would  freely  give  his  Spirit  without 
measure  unto  all.  This  is  the  end  for  which 
God  is  working.  It  is  the  completion  of  crea- 
tion and  the  fulfillment  of  redemption.  The 
time  when  all  men  shall  know  the  Lord,  when 
the  knowledge  of  his  glory  shall  fill  the  earth 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea,  and  his  word  be 
written  in  every  human  heart,  was  the  vision 
of  the  prophets,  lifting  their  hopes  above  the 
corruption  of  their  times,  and  sustaining  them 


THE  DiyiNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  73 

through  great  tribulations.  An  earth  at  one 
with  heaven,  the  will  of  God  done  alike  in 
each,  is  the  divine  expectation  which  the  hand 
of  God,  in  spite  of  the  blindness  and  blun- 
dering and  unbelief  of  man,  has  wrought  into 
all  the  social  fabrics  of  history.  It  is  the 
thought  with  which  Jesus  worked,  and  the 
belief  which  inspired  the  letters  of  the  apos- 
tles to  the  churches.  It  is  the  promise  of 
God  which  crowns  and  closes  the  scriptures. 
It  is  the  purpose  for  which  the  earth  stands, 
that  it  may  be  the  field  in  which  God  shall 
raise  unto  himself  a  race  of  children  who  shall 
be  perfect  images  of  his  own  character.  With 
each  successive  generation  God  seeks  to  raise 
a  better  crop  of  men.  Nor  will  his  love  be 
discouraged  nor  his  patience  fail,  until  the 
earth  bring  forth  abundantly  the  fruits  of 
heaven,  and  men  know  good  but  not  evil,  and 
God  find  no  shame  in  the  face  of  man  when 
he  walks  his  garden  in  the  evening  hour  in 
search  of  human  fellowships.  For  the  heart 
of  God  is  human  and  the  heart  of  man  divine; 
and  the  humanity  of  God  can  be  satisfied 
with  no  less  than  the  perfected  divinity  of 
man  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 


74  THE  DII^INE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

But  divine  revelation,though  always  leading 
human  progress;  though  a  new  vision  of  God, 
a  larger  apprehension  of  truth,  has  ever  begun 
the  great  upward  movements  of  man's  career; 
God  is  yet  limited  in  his  power  to  reveal  the 
truth  by  man's  capacity  to  understand.  God 
is  always  speaking;  but  man  does  not  hear. 
The  angels  of  promise  are  always  on  the  wing, 
and  the  messengers  of  truth  move  to  and  fro 
upon  the  earth,  never  leaving  God  without  a 
witness;  but  unbelief  blinds  the  eye  and 
hardens  the  heart.  God  reveals  himself  in 
vain  to  eyes  that  see  not,  and  speaks  only  for 
man's  woe  and  his  own  sorrow  to  ears  that 
hear  not.  He  always  has  many  things  to  say 
which  must  wait  until  men  are  ready  to  obey. 
The  Spirit  of  truth  guides  into  the  realm  of 
truth  as  far  and  fast  as  men  are  prepared  to 
be  led.  God  makes  known  as  much  truth 
as  men  are  able  to  act  upon.  Not  until  we 
are  enabled  to  bear  the  truth  of  God,  the  truth 
about  ourselves,  the  truth  supremely  needful 
to  our  generation,  the  knowledge  of  our  duty, 
does  the  revelation  come.  This  is  the  divine 
method  of  culture.  And  it  is  rational.  It  is 
simply  impossible  for  one   whose   whole  mind 


THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  75 

is  centered  on  the  material  to  understand  the 
spiritual.  The  soul  that  is  all  absorbed  in 
pleasure  and  gain  will  not  be  interested  in 
efforts  that  make  for  righteousness.  The  man 
who  is  self-centered,  whose  religious  motive 
is  no  larger  than  happiness  and  comfort  on 
the  earth  and  heaven  after  death,  will  be  deaf 
to  all  appeals  to  deny  himself  and  renounce 
all  that  he  hath  in  favor  of  his  Lord.  Christ's 
doctrine  of  self-renunciation  is  incomprehensi- 
ble to  the  self-seeking  life.  The  preaching  of 
the  cross  is  foolishness  to  the  selfish  man. 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  meaningless  to 
the  so-called  practical  man  of  the  world — who 
is  in  reality  the  most  short-sighted  and  imprac- 
ticable of  all  fools.  Right-doing  is  the  only 
sure  road  to  right-thinking.  The  fruit  of  knowl- 
edge unmixed  with  evil  grows  on  the  tree  of 
obedience.  A  clear  vision  belongs  only  to 
righteousness.  The  first  step  towards  being 
guided  into  all  truth  is  self-surrender  to  the 
Spirit  of  truth.  We  may  see  and  explore  the 
universe  of  truth  only  by  moving  out  from  un- 
der the  dominion  of  selfishness.  Except  a 
man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God,  which  is  the   kingdom   of    knowledge 


76  THE  DIVIhJE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

and  righteousness.  Whosoever  shall  not  re- 
ceive the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child, 
who  is  the  type  of  trustful  obedience,  shall  in 
no  wise  enter  therein.  Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit:  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
in  which  the  proud  and  the  wise  in  their  own 
eyes  have  no  part.  Jesus  lifted  up  his  eyes  in 
thanksgiving  that  the  truth  hidden  from  the 
great  and  wise  and  prudent  was  revealed  unto 
babes  in  worldly  knowledge.  None  but  the 
spiritually  minded  can  intelligently  examine 
spiritual  facts.  The  anointing  from  the  Holy 
One,  by  which  we  may  know  the  truth  direct 
from  God,  comes  alone  upon  the  waiting  and 
self-surrendered  disciples.  They  who  stand 
willing  and  ready  to  do  God's  will,  whatever 
it  may  be,  however  it  thwarts  all  selfish  hopes 
and  cuts  across  all  previous  conceptions  of 
truth  and  duty,  be  the  cost  of  doing  however 
great,  — these  only  can  bear  the  revelations  of 
God's  will  and  be  guided  in  the  truth,  and  be 
shown  the  things  to  come.  This  is  the  divine 
method  of  human  culture. 

It  has  been  a  slow  method,  I  know,  and 
fraught  with  pain,  while  the  cry  for  God  to  lay 
bare  his  holy  arm  and  make  all  things  new 
has  ever  gone  up — 


THE  DinNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  77 

"  From  the  spirits  on  earth  that  adore, 
From  the  souls  that  entreat  and  implore 

In  the  fervor  and  passion  of  prayer, 
From  the  hearts  that  are  broken  with  losses, 
And  weary  with  dragging  of  crosses 

Too  heavy  for  mortals  to  bear." 

But  the  slowness  has  been  in  man  and  not 
in  God.  The  sorrow  of  delay  and  the  burden 
of  human  need  have  weighed  more  heavily 
upon  God  than  ever  upon  man.  Surely  he 
hath  borne  our  griefs  and  in  all  our  afflictions 
he  is  afflicted.  Not  in  the  will  of  God,  but  in 
the  self-will  of  man,  is  the  answer  to  the  cry, 
How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long  must  the  pray- 
ers and  sacrifices  of  thy  saints  await  the  day 
of  their  prevailing !  It  is  the  blindness  of  man 
which  cannot  bear  the  light,  and  not  the  will 
of  God  which  withholds  its  rays  of  truth  from 
shining.  Before  each  soul,  each  age,  each 
nation,  God  raises  the  highest  moral  standard 
possible  of  achievement.  Through  many  vile 
centuries  God  waited  for  the  birth  and  growth 
of  a  tribe  unto  whom  he  could  deliver  the 
Ten  Commandments.  And  in  order  to  pre- 
serve and  scatter  them  as  the  seed  of  better 
fruit  to  come  God  patiently  tolerated,  and 
wisely  encouraged,  the  most  detestable  bigotry 
and  prejudice.     Then  fifteen  centuries    more 


78  THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

of  war  and  blood,  idolatry  and  woe,  passed 
over  the  earth  before  there  was  born  upon 
it  One  of  whom  he  could  say,  "This  is  my 
beloved  Son:  hear  ye  him."  But  that  Son, 
with  all  the  truth  of  God's  great  universe  as 
the  light  of  his  countenanee,  sweeping  aside 
the  traditions  of  men  and  transcending  the 
authority  of  Moses,  pouring  the  blood  of  God 
into  the  fields  of  human  endeavor  that  the 
precious  seed  of  love  might  take  root  and  fruit 
in  a  regenerated  society,  putting  a  new  earth 
of  brotherhood  beneath  the  feet  of  men  and 
spreading  a  sky  of  hope  above  their  heads, 
himself  a  fountain  of  exhaustless  life  where 
whoever  will  may  freely  drink — he,  the  life- 
giving  Son  of  God,  was  worth  all  he  cost  to 
God^or  man.  With  him  was  manifested  tEe~~ 
authority  of  love,  and  the  freedom  of  faith  to 
learn  the  truth  direct  from  God  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Spirit.  From  his  face  shone 
the  grace  that  shall  evermore  effulgent  grow, 
until  the  last  shade  of  the  night  of  sin  fades 
from  the  horizon  of  man's  spiritual  vision. 
The  Son  of  Man  brought  immortality  to  light, 
only  a  dream  of  philosophers  and  a  troubled 
hope  of  prophets  before  his  day,  and  revealed 


THE  DiyiNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  79 

the  life  of  man  as  an  eternal  development, 
an  unending  growth  in  the  knowledge  of 
God.  The  God  whom  Moses  knew  as  law 
spake  in  Christ  as  love,  and  the  God  whom 
Elijah  served  as  King  of  Israel  Jesus  made 
known  as  the  Father  of  man.  He  showed 
that  the  present  must  not  be  the  slave  of  the 
past  but  the  past  the  servant  of  the  present. 
He  revealed  revelation  itself  as  an  eternally 
increasing  flood  of  light,  a  continually  enlarg- 
ing vision  of  God,  and  not  a  stagnant  pool  of 
traditionalism.  Christ  made  human  life  a 
divine  expectancy,  a  constant  looking  forward 
for  better  things  to  come,  a  continuous  re-sur- 
render to  the  Spirit  of  truth,  that  each  to-mor- 
row might  look  upon  larger  revelations  of  truth 
and  sublimer  opportunities  for  service  than  to- 
day could  bear  to  see.  The  best,  which  is 
ever  the  costliest,  is  always  to  come. 

The  Son  of  Man  himself  grew  in  wisdom 
and  learned  obedience  through  this  divine 
method  of  spiritual  development.  The  early 
calls  to  his  Father's  work  were  answered  by 
faith,  plans  unveiling  themselves  before  the 
advance  of  duty,  truth  coming  forth  to  greet 
obedience,  the  cross  growing  nearer  as    the 


80  THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

life  was  made  ready  to  be  offered.  Though 
the  shadow  of  the  cross  rested  upon  the  peace- 
ful village  home,  whispering  sad  presentiments 
of  Calvary,  yet  many  things  too  great  for  his 
mortal  endurance,  during  the  quiet  years  of 
preparation  at  Nazareth,  were  revealed  to 
Jesus  as  he  followed  the  Spirit  of  truth  from 
the  wilderness  of  temptation  along  the  path 
of  obedience  to  his  Father's  will. 

So  the  Spirit  of  truth,  who  was  the  light 
and  power  of  Jesus'  self-emptied  soul,  en- 
lightens and  empowers  all  the  sons  of  God 
according  to  the  measure  of  their  self-renun- 
ciation. No  man  who  does  a  good  work  knows 
altogether  how  it  is  to  be  done  when  he  be- 
gins. The  builders  of  righteousness  build  at 
greater  cost,  though  more  wisely,  than  they 
know  when  the  call  to  work  is  first  obeyed. 
God  sees  how  much  greater  is  the  life  of  man 
than  man  himself  knows.  There  are  deeds  of 
sacrifice  to  be  done,  brave  words  to  be 
spoken,  disappointments  to  be  endured,  the 
sorrow  of  failures  to  be  borne,  from  which 
the  faith  of  the  strongest  love  for  God  and 
man  would  turn  if  the  vision  of  duty  were  not 
a  growth,  and  the  revelations  of  truth  made 


THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  81 

one  by  one,  and  the  path  of  toil  pointed  out 
step  by  step.  In  every  way  of  duty  in  which 
God  sets  the  feet  of  men,  in  every  noble  work, 
whether  wrought  out  unseen  or  done  before 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  there  are  many  things 
to  be  met,  many  truths  to  be  learned  through 
suffering,  that  the  doer  could  not  bear  to  know 
save  in  submissive  waiting  upon  the  Spirit  of 
truth.  The  price  of  being  the  servant  of  one's 
brothers  for  righteousness'  sake,  the  voca- 
tion to  which  many  are  called  but  few  are 
chosen,  is  always  a  cross.  Wherever  a  John 
Baptist  appears  calling  men  to  repentance 
there  waits  a  Herod  with  his  sword.  When- 
ever a  Savonarola  arises  to  herald  the  break- 
ing light  of  a  new  day  of  God,  somewhere  in 
the  lurking  shadows  the  jealous  demons  of  the 
night  are  gathering  fagots  for  a  new  martyr- 
fire.  If  Cromwell,  iron-faithed  as  he  was, 
could  have  seen  the  immediate  end  of  the  Pur 
itan  revolution,  the  sword  of  God  would  have 
fallen  from  his  stricken  hand.  If  the  soldiers 
who  marched  through  the  American  civil  war 
in  defense  of  the  Union  could  have  seen  that,  a 
generation  after  their  battles  were  done,  the 
race  question  would  be  one  of  the  most  peril- 


83  THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

ous  and  neglected  problems  of  American 
statesmanship,  and  that  some  of  the  most 
piteous  appeals  on  the  part  of  the  weak  to  the 
strong  in  all  history  would  then  be  made  by 
the  black  man  of  the  south  to  the  white  man 
of  the  north,  I  question  if  the  revelation  would 
not  have  turned  them  homeward.  The  Chris- 
tian youth,  aflush  with  holy  fervor,  wrathful 
at  the  wrongs  and  hypocrisies  of  his  age,  the 
arms  of  his  endeavors  reaching  about  the 
throne  of  God,  knows  not  that  the  golden  days 
of  justice  which  hope  paints  on  the  mystic 
walls  wherein  God  holds  communion  with  his 
soul  will  dawn  above  the  victorious  cross  of  his 
Christ  only  after  many  diviner  faiths  than  his 
arise  to  bear  the  cross  to  its  consummation. 
The  young  missionary,  aflame  with  a  divine 
enthusiasm  for  souls  sitting  in  darkness,  sees 
not  that  the  search  for  his  unknown  grave 
must  be  the  highway  over  which  the  gospel 
will  march  to  the  conquest  of  the  heathen  na- 
tions. The  young  mother,  proudly  folding' 
her  first-born  babe  upon  her  joyful  breast, 
understands  not  yet  that  the  birth  of  every 
child  into  this  sinful  world  is  the  birth  of  a 
parent's  undying  heart-ache.   Young  disciples 


THE  DiyiNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  83 

of  the  Lord,  under  the  impulse  of  high  ambi- 
tion, declaring  their  willingness  to  drink  of 
their  Lord's  cup,  know  not  the  wine  of  anguish 
for  which  they  ask,  nor  the  bitterness  of  its 
dregs.  Fresh  pilgrims  to  the  celestial  city 
see  not  the  gruesome  valleys  of  dragons  and 
devils  to  be  met  in  mortal  combat  on  the  way. 
Young  lovers  know  not  that  love  thrives  alone 
on  sacrifice,  without  which  it  withers  away, 
a  lifeless  thing,  its  glory  a  forgotten  dream. 
And  so  at  every  stage  of  human  experience, 
in  every  epoch  of  human  history,  in  every 
triumph  and  defeat,  in  every  joy  and  disap- 
pointment, the  Spirit  of  truth  stands  treasur- 
ing many  things  unsaid,  waiting  till  obedient 
souls  are  submissive  to  know  the  truth,  and 
pure  enough  to  see  the  purposes  of  God  un- 
fold. I  have  many  things  to  say  unto  you, 
so  speaks  the  living  Christ  to  all,  but  ye  can- 
not bear  them  now,  while  selfish  plans  de- 
ceive you,  and  the  power  of  disappointment 
enthralls  you,  and  the  night  of  hopelessness 
comes  on.  But  when  the  Spirit  of  truth  comes 
into  your  life  to  rule,  making  you  his  humble 
learner,  possessing  your  thoughts  and  direct- 
ing your  deeds,  then  you  shall  know  the  truth 


84  THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

about  your  experiences,  about  your  questions, 
about  what  work  you  ought  to  do,  about  what 
sacrifices  God  would  have  you  make,  about 
the  needs  and  problems  of  your  day.  As  fast 
as  you  are  ready  to  act  you  shall  know.  As 
fast  as  you  are  ready  to  be  offered  will  the 
cross  of  self-denial  be  made  glorious  as  well  as 
grievous. 

For  the  things  you  cannot  bear  to  hear  are 
full  of  joy  as  well  as  pain.  God  always  pro- 
vides some  better,  vaster  issue  of  our  hopes 
and  toils  than  the  illusions  we  chase.  The  ful- 
fillments of  God  transcend  the  holiest  dreams 
of  man.  There  is  not  room  in  earth's  to-day 
for  the  blessings  of  the  heavenly  to-morrow. 
John  Baptist  knows  now  that  Herod's  sword 
was  but  cleaving  the  way  of  the  Lord.  Sa- 
vonarola lives,  and  his  spirit,  which  is  the 
Spirit  of  truth,  spake  not  alo^e  in  Luther  and 
Zwingli,  but  will  speak  in  braver  days  to  be, 
when  other  prophets  will  arise  to  behold  the 
city  of  righteousness  coming  down  out  of 
heaven  from  God,  not  to  abide  alone  at  Flor- 
ence, but  to  enclose  the  earth  with  its  walls 
of  peace.  Cromwell  now,  his  own  ambitions 
washed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  may  behold 


THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  85 

the  Puritan  spirit  purified  building  silently  and 
secure  the  walls  of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon 
the  earth.  The  soldiers  of  the  civil  war  who 
have  been  marshaled  in  the  invisible  ranks  of 
the  conquering  Christ  foresee  universal  issues, 
and  a  glorious  mission  waiting  a  despised  race, 
which  they  saw  not,  nor  were  able  to  compre- 
hend, a  generation  gone.  The  impetuous  con- 
secration of  the  youth  gained  its  power  in  the 
school  of  baffled  effort.  The  young  missionary 
took  his  place  among  the  white-robed  throngs 
who  enter  the  glory  of  the  slain  and  suffering 
Christ  through  great  tribulation,  to  learn  that 
the  sacrifice  of  precious  human  lives  is  the 
seed  of  God  which  is  fruiting  the  earth  with 
righteousness  and  joy  so  abundant  that  briers 
and  thorns  shall  in  due  time  have  no  ground 
in  which  to  grow.  The  mother's  heart-ache 
became  her  bond  of  sympathy  and  fellowship 
with  her  Father  in  heaven.  Young  love,  in 
proving  true  and  brave,  found  its  divinest 
rapture  in  the  sorrow  from  which  it  shrank. 
Through  trial  faith  learned  that  all  things 
work  together  for  good  to  those  who  love 
God. 

The  Christian  life    is    a  continuous  revela- 


86  THE  DiyiNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

tion  of  truth,    unfolding    before    a  continuous 
revolution  of  conduct.   And  some  of  the  trans- 
forming experiences  of   life  cannot    be  under- 
stood until  they  are    patiently    and    painfully 
undergone,    their    meanings   being    discerned 
only  in  the  light  of  long  years    of  retrospect. 
We  know    that    certain    things    and    certain 
persons  make  great  changes  in  all  our  thoughts 
and  plans  of  life,  but  to  what  end  we   do  not 
see  until  the    end    suddenly    apppears  in  new 
and  unexpected  work — work  we  take  up  gladly 
when  it    comes,    not    knowing,    perhaps,  till 
long  after  it  has  been  begun,  that   it  was  the 
end  for  which  our  life  was  made  anew  through 
sore  perplexity,    or    mystery,    or  disappoint- 
ment, or  fellowship  with  another,  or  suffering. 
We  could  not    have  borne,  at  the  beginning, 
to  see  the  way  in  which    we  were    being  led. 
But  Christ  our  Lord  knew    that  the    mission 
we  once  would  have    refused,   the  work    we 
would  have  declined  or  evaded,  would  be  the 
music  of  our  souls  after  he  led  us  to  our  duty 
by  the  Spirit  of  truth  through  ways   we  could 
not  see.   The  things  we  cannot  bear  to  know, 
the  work  we  cannot    bear    to    undertake,  the 
truths  we  cannot  bear  to  hear  and  speak,  the 


THE  DiyihlE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  87 

self-abandoned  life  of  devotion  we  cannot  bear 
to  live,  are  welcomed  as  gifts  of  joy  from  the 
hand  of  God  when  we  put  ourselves  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Spirit  of  truth,  willing  to 
hear  whatever  God  may  speak,  willing  to  do 
whatever  his  Son  commands.  Then  our  sur- 
render is  unconditional,  and  no  burden  is  too 
great  to  bear,  no  sacrifice  too  great  to  make, 
nothing  too  good  for  hope  or  too  high  for 
effort.  Each  new  step  of  life  is  quickly  and 
bravely  taken  in  the  faith  that  future  steps, 
and  ways  and  means  of  doing,  will  be  made 
plain  when  we  are  prepared  for  the  revelation. 
And  before  the  eye  of  faith — for  faith  is  the  tru- 
est sight — boundless  vistas  of  life  are  opened, 
and  the  universe  is  seen  to  be  alive  with  God. 
The  kingdom  of  truth  surrenders,  we  find,  to 
obedience.  And  as  we  follow  the  Spirit  of 
truth  into  his  limitless  realm  of  knowledge  we 
learn  that  vast  and  joyous  revelations  of  the 
things  of  Christ,  things  which  eye  cannot  yet 
see,  nor  ear  hear,  are  treasured  up  in  the  heart 
of  God  for  the  loving  and  believing.  So  we 
grow  perennially  hopeful  as  we  walk  the  way 
of  the  cross,  our  hearts  aglow  with  a  divine 
expectancy  and  full    of    the  yearning    love  of 


88  THE  DIVINE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE 

Christ    for  our     unseeing    and     discouraged 
brothers. 

There  is  more  vital  power  in  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus  than  either  the  church  or  the  world 
believes.  The  influence  of  the  living  Christ, 
the  power  of  his  love,  is  greater  than  the  world's 
sight  or  the  church's  faith.  Sometimes  it 
seems  to  me  that  in  these  days  the  heavens 
are  bursting  with  pent-up  revelations,  soon  to 
flood  the  earth  with  living  light,  and  manifest 
the  redemptive  power  of  the  gospel  of  Christ 
in  a  regenerated  human  society.  The  truth  of 
Jesus  is  already  beginning  to  clasp  the  hands 
and  link  the  hearts  of  nations,  putting  hu- 
manity in  the  place  of  a  selfish  nationalism, 
showing  that  the  race  is  a  unit  and  that  the 
interests  of  one  is  the  responsibility  of  all  and 
the  interest  of  all  the  responsibility  of  each, 
making  men  better  than  their  political  and 
sectarian  creeds,  moving  America  to  fulfill  her 
divine  vocation  in  speeding  cargoes  of  wheat 
to  starving  Russia  rather  than  rejoice  in  a 
material  prosperity  that  impoverishes  the 
homes  and  ruins  the  industries  of  Europe. 
The  nations  shall  yet  walk  in  the  light  of 
Christ's  throne;  and-unto  him  shall  the  gath- 
ering of  the  peoples  be,  confederate  in  the  im- 


THE  DiyiNE  METHOD  OF  CULTURE  89 

mutable  law  of  love,  rejoicing  in  the  peace  of 
the  everlasting  gospel. 

The  possibilities  of  our  humanity,  in  the 
fellowship  of  man  with  God,  in  the  power  of 
brotherhood,  in  the  fruitfulness  of  sacrifice, 
in  the  influence  of  mind  over  m.atter,  and  the 
power  of  soul  over  soul,  all  manifested  in 
Christ,  are  things  that  yet  await  the  revela- 
tion of  the  Spirit  of  truth.  But  the  number 
ready  to  obey  the  truth  is  increasing,  and  the 
faith  of  man  in  the  redemptive  work  of  the 
living  Christ  is  broadening,  and  a  new  Pente- 
cost is  preparing  to  quicken  the  life  of  the 
world  with  a  new  energy.  And  the  mission 
God  gives  us  each  is  that  of  making  men  ready 
to  bear  the  divine  light  that  is  breaking  in 
upon  the  present  from  the  future  by  making 
our  Christianity  fresh  and  vivid,  real  and 
hopeful.  Our  part  is  to  renew  the  springs  of 
our  own  life  through  personal  contact  with 
Christ,  that  we  may  fill  the  earth  with  a  new 
and  living  hope,  uplifting  the  faith  of  men 
with  a  great  vision  of  a  divine  future,  when 
God  shall  make  all  things  new,  dwelling  with 
us  in  the  power  of  his  Christ,  whose  Spirit 
of  truth  shall  be  the  spirit  of  a  redeemed  and 
glorified  humanity. 


IV 

A  Lesson  in  Education  from  the  Incarnation 


Now  before  the  feast  of  the  passover,  Jesus  knowing  that 
his  hour  was  come  that  he  should  depart  out  of  this  world 
unto  the  Father,  having  loved  his  own  which  were  in  the 
world,  he  loved  them  unto  the  end.  And  during  supper,  the 
devil  having  already  put  into  the  heart  of  Judas  Iscariot, 
Simon's  son,  to  betray  him,  Jesus,  knowing  that  the  Father 
had  given  all  things  into  his  hands,  and  that  he  came  forth 
from  God,  and  goeth  unto  God,  riseth  from  supper,  and  lay- 
eth  aside  his  garments;  and  he  took  a  towel,  and  girded  him- 
self. Then  he  poureth  water  into  the  basin,  and  began  to 
wash  the  disciples'  feet,  and  to  wipe  them  with  a  towel  where- 
with he  was  girded.  So  he  cometh  to  Simon  Peter.  He  saith 
unto  him.  Lord,  dost  thou  wash  my  feet?  Jesus  answered 
and  saith  unto  him.  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now;  but 
thou  shalt  understand  hereafter.  Peter  saith  unto  him,  Thou 
shalt  never  wash  my  feet.  Jesus  answered  him.  If  I  wash  thee 
not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  me.  Simon  Peter  saith  unto  him, 
Lord, not  my  feet  only,  but  also  my  hands  and  my  head.  Jesus 
saith  unto  him.  He  that  is  bathed  needeth  not  save  to  wash 
his  feet,  but  is  clean  every  whit.  And  ye  are  clean,  but  not 
all.  For  he  knew  him  that  should  betray  him;  therefore  said 
he,  Ye  are  not  all  clean. 

So  when  he  had  washed  their  feet,  and  taken  his  garments, 
and  sat  down  again,  he  said  unto  them.  Know  ye  what  I  have 
done  to  you?  Ye  call  me  Master  and  Lord:  And  ye  say  well, 
for  so  I  am.  If  I  then,  the  Lord  and  the  Master,  have  washed 
your  feet,  ye  also  ought  to  wash  one  another's  feet.  For  I 
have  given  you  an  example,  that  ye  also  should  do  as  I  have 
done  unto  you.  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  a  servant  is 
not  greater  than  his  Lord;  neither  one  that  is  sent  greater 
than  he  that  sent  him.  — John  the  Apostle. 


IV 

A  Lesson  in  Education  from  the  Incarjiation 

And  the  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we 
beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father) 
full  of  grace  and  truth. — John  i:  14. 

You  know  how  difficult  it  is,  how  well-nigh 
impossible,  to  put  your  highest  thoughts  and 
holiest  feelings  into  words.  You  have  never 
been  satisfied  with  any  expression  of  your 
truest  self  that  you  were  able  to  give.  You 
are  sure  there  is  more  of  you  than  your  friends 
see;  more  than  you  know  how  to  reveal;  more 
than  you  yourself  understand.  Away  in  the 
deeps  of  your  being  are  halls  of  divine  com- 
munion and  chambers  of  thought  which  you 
have  never  dared  explore,  nor  invite  a  friend 
to  enter.  You  have  deathless  hopes  that  know 
no  language.  Your  divinest  spiritual  yearn- 
ings are  speechless,  even  unto  God.  Within 
you  is  the  unresting  strife  of  moral  possibilities, 
which  lack  both  courage  and  power   to  assert 


94  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

themselves  in  the  face  of  the  world.  You  are 
a  stranger  to  yourself.  Your  ideal  self,  the 
self  you  would  be,  the  self  your  hidden  aspi- 
rations enfold  and  cherish,  seems  only  a  mock- 
ery to  your  real  self — the  self  you  would  not 
be,  the  self  the  world  sees.  You  are  sure 
your  ideal  self,  notwithstanding  your  failure 
and  folly,  is  your  real  self. 

If  you  could  lay  hands  on  that  ideal,  and 
show  it  to  your  friends,  you  feel  they  would 
see  you  as  you  are.  You  will  not  believe  that 
the  self  the  world  sees,  and  would  force  you  to 
accept  as  your  moral  portion,  is  your  real  be- 
ing. And  though  inability  to  utter  your  po- 
tential life  sometimes  fills  you  with  a  sad  un- 
resting silence,  you  are  never  content  with  the 
self-repression  of  these  voiceless  struggles  of 
your  soul. 

"  Often  in  the  din  of  strife, 

There  rises  an  unspeakable  desire 
After  the  knowledge  of  our  buried  life." 

Now  your  own  experience  of  sorrow  and  de- 
lay, suffering  and  sacrifice,  will  help  you  to 
some  understanding  of  the  sorrow  and  sacri- 
fice through  which  God  reached  the  perfect 
expression    of   himself  in   Christ.     I    do  not 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  95 

mean  that  you  can  compass  with  your  finite 
thoughts  all  the  truth  of  the  incarnation.  I 
would  not  have  you  try  to  imprison  eternal 
facts  in  temporal  and  variable  forms  of  speech. 
I  do  not  want  you  to  think  that  the  eter- 
nally unfolding  life  of  God  is  something  you 
can  anatomize  and  label,  and  your  mind  have 
done  with.  The  incarnation  is  a  subject  for 
exhaustless  study.  No  one  age  will  be,  or 
ought  to  be,  satisfied  with  what  the  preceding 
age  has  learned  about  the  Word  becoming 
flesh.  You  have  no  right,  as  a  trustful  and 
loyal  disciple  of  Christ,  to  ever  rest  wholly 
content  with  yesterday's  knowledge  of  Christ. 
From  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  you 
should  never  take  eyes  of  reverent  inquiry. 
In  no  way  can  you  so  belittle  Christ,  so 
surely  petrify  your  faith,  as  by  formulating 
the  truth  you  have  already  attained  to  as  if  it 
were  the  whole  truth.  Paul  and  John  were 
always  disciples — that  is,  learners.  The  knowl- 
edge of  the  past  was  to  them  the  foundation 
for  future  knowledge.  The  joy  of  learning 
what  they  yet  knew  not,  as  well  as  an  unwav- 
ering confidence  in  the  truth  they  knew,  was 
their  quenchless  inspiration  to  prayer  and  toil. 


96  A  LESSO'N  IN  EDUCATION 

I  should  be  sorry  indeed  to  have  the  time 
come  when  you  felt  you  could  fence  in  the 
eternal  Word  of  God  with  little  words  of  your 
own.  Great  spiritual  facts  are  always  cramped 
in  words.  You  read  the  utterances  of  pro- 
phetic souls,  and  you  see  that  the  words  they 
use  to  utter  their  messages  seem  stretched  and 
bleeding,  crowded  with  meaning  beyond  their 
capacity  to  contain,  leaping  for  joy  in  the 
presence  of  hearts  pure  enough  to  read  the 
spirit  within  the  letter. 

Words  at  best  are  mysteries.  They  bear, 
as  you  trace  back  their  history,  the  marks  of 
heroic  struggles.  There  are  single  words  in 
whose  primal  meaning  you  may  feel  the  divine 
impulses  attending  the  birth  of  a  great  revo- 
lution. Saxon  words  are  histories  of  tremen- 
dous moral  convictions.  Latin  words  reveal 
the  essential  inhumanity  of  Roman  thought 
and  aspirations.  Greek  words  are  dramas  in 
themselves.  Words  have  all,  sometime,  been 
wrenched  from  the  inmost  life  of  man  by  the 
necessity  of  making  himself  understood;  they 
are  the  outgrowth  of  moral  achievement. 
Every  new  discovery  of  natural  law,  every 
new  revelation   of  divine  truth,    compels  the 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  97 

creation  of  new  and  greater  words.  The  use 
of  language  is  a  moral  more  than  an  intellect- 
ual attainment.  A  man's  language  is  always 
a  moral  self-revelation,  whether  he  wills  it 
so  or  not.  Sooner  or  later  a  man's  words 
bear  the  stamp  of  his  character.  Be  he  low- 
born or  high,  ignorant  or  possessing  all  knowl- 
edge, the  words  of  a  man  will  bring  forth  the 
moral  cargo  his  soul  carries,  to  enrich  or  im- 
poverish the  world.  Coddle  and  sculpture 
them  as  we  will,  our  words  are  sure  to  lay 
bare  our  moral  quality  before  we  get  done 
with  them;  they  simply  will  not,  they  cannot, 
long  be  hypocrites  for  us.  Many  words  have 
fallen  from  grace,  and  dishonored  their  divine 
ancestry;  but  they  proceeded  from  the  mouth 
of  God  before  they  were  spoken  by  the  mouth 
of  man.  All  our  human  words  began  in  God, 
and  are  fragments  of  the  eternal  Word  that 
became  flesh. 

When  we  think  of  words  as  the  product  of 
moral  necessity,  born  through  the  union  of  the 
spirit  of  man  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  do 
not  wonder  that  the  ancients  regarded  them 
with  superstitious  awe,  and  finally  came  to 
think  of  them    as  demons — supernatural   be- 


98  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

ings  mediating  between  the  gods  and  men. 
The  Word,  or  words,  of  God  came  to  be  the 
mediums  through  whom  God  made  himself 
known.  The  Word  of  God  was,  at  John's 
time,  a  common  term  of  philosophy  in  Alexan- 
dria and  the  Greek  cities.  Plato  had  taught 
that  God  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  men 
by  direct  intercourse;  he  would  communicate 
with  men  only  through  intermediary  beings — 
thus  beginning  that  theology  which  regards 
the  world  and  they  that  dwell  therein  as  totally 
depraved,  the  offspring  of  devilish  ingenuity 
rather  than  divine  love.  Then  the  Word  of 
God  was  a  familiar  term  with  the  Jews,  in 
both  the  Old  Testament  and  apocryphal  lit- 
erature. No  man  had  seen  God  at  any  time. 
Yet  God  had  talked  with  Abraham  and  Moses, 
with  the  leaders  and  prophets  of  Israel,  with 
all  who  would  hear  his  voice.  The  Word  of 
God  was  God's  will  going  forth  and  express- 
ing itself  in  creation,  in  the  direction  and  ref- 
ormation of  man,  in  the  process  of  history. 
Men  had  longed  to  see  God  in  some  compre- 
hensible form.  This  was  Job's  plaintive  de- 
sire. This  longing,  wrongly  directed,  had 
given  idolatry  to  the  nations.   But  it  was  only 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  99 

by  his  Word  that  God  could,  or  had,  made 
himself  known.  So  Philo,  the  Greek-Jewish 
philosopher, with  others  before  and  after  him, 
had  invested  the  Word  of  God  spoken  to  the 
Jews  with  the  personality  of  the  Greek  de- 
mons, and  thus  sought  to  unify  Moses  and  the 
prophets  with  Plato  and  the  philosophers. 
Philo's  philosophy  grew  out  of  the  desire  to 
make  God  comprehensible  to  the  intellect. 
The  Word  of  God,  whether  one  or  many, 
came  to  be  the  term  of  both  Jews  and  Greeks, 
of  religion  and  philosophy,  for  God  in  the 
process  of  self-revelation.  The  Word  of  God 
was  the  self-expression  of  God,  God  speaking 
his  mind,  God  acting  out  his  will.  The  Word 
was  God  as  certainly  as  the  sun's  rays  are  the 
sun;  as  truly  as  your  words  in  their  last 
analysis,  are  you. 

And  the  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt 
among  us,  in  the  full  glory  of  the  Father's 
grace  and  truth.  John  the  fisherman,  the 
practical  mystic,  the  most  inspired  of  sacred 
writers,  grasps  these  delayed  hopes  and  disap- 
pointed yearnings  of  Israel  and  Greece,  and 
the  divine  searchings  of  the  ancient  world,  and 
fixes  them  upon  Christ.   Here  was  God  within 


100  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

the  compass  of  human  understanding.  Here 
was  God  perfectly  manifested.  Here  was  a 
complete  expression  of  God's  character;  an 
absolute  revelation  of  what  God  eternally  is. 
Here  was  God  speaking  his  mind  to  man  in  a 
way  that  could  not  be  misunderstood.  Here 
was  God's  heart  laid  bare  to  the  gaze  of  his 
children.  The  Word  speaks  God's  moral  qual- 
ity, revealing  the  glory  of  his  love  and  the  full- 
ness of  his  grace  and  truth.  Here,  thought 
John,  is  what  the  ages  have  been  searching 
and  praying  for:  the  Word  of  God  made  flesh; 
God  manifested  in  human  character.  What 
was  there  in  the  character  of  Christ  that  could 
not  satisfy  all  men  as  a  revelation  of  God.-* 
Was  not  this  Christ  the  desire  of  all  nations, 
all  philosophies,  all  religions?  What  more 
could  man  want  to  win  his  affection  and  con- 
fidence than  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  .»* 
What  excuse  could  a  man  have  for  abiding 
in  unrighteousness  after  the  Word  of  such  a 
Father  had  spoken  in  such  a  Son? 

By  the  Word  becoming  flesh,  then,  I  under- 
stand John  to  mean  that  Christ  was  a  com- 
plete self-expression  of  God.  And  the  Eternal 
Word  had  never  been  silent.     The  Word  was 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  101 

with  God  in  the  beginning,  going  forth  in 
creation  and  redemption.  God's  love  for 
man  is  eternally  what  Christ  reveals  it  to  be, 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever. 
Christ  was  not  an  after-thought  of  God.  He 
was  what  God  had  in  mind  from  the  first.  The 
creative  purpose  of  God  was  to  make  man  a 
complete  revelation  of  himself.  Christ  was 
the  ideal  which  God  started  out  with;  the  ideal 
which  Adam,  by  self-assertion, failed  to  realize; 
the  ideal  to  which  God  clu»g  through  all  the 
weary  centuries  of  man's  ingratitude  and 
shame.  Though  the  Word  long  sought  in  vain 
a  perfect  human  habitation,  the  Father  would 
not  suffer  human  inappreciation  and  wicked- 
ness to  repress  his  love  for  his  offspring.  God 
was  able  to  delight  in  Abraham  and  David;  to 
find  some  measure  of  satisfaction  in  Moses 
and  Elijah;  to  get  very  near  to  Isaiah  and 
Daniel.  But  before  Christ  the  divinest  and 
most  obedient  of  men  had  been  but  fragments 
of  the  Word;  while  the  great  multitudes  were 
blind  and  indifferent  to  God's  yearnings  for 
human  fellowship,  and  deaf  to  his  warnings 
of  death  as  the  result  of  disobedience.  Man 
disfellowshiped   God;   God   did  not  disfellow- 


103  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

ship  man.  Man  shut  God  out  of  his  society; 
God  never  withdrew  from  man.  Man  turned 
the  Word  of  God  out  of  doors;  but  the  Word 
kept  on  speaking  to  men's  souls,  and  knock- 
ing at  the  door  of  men's  hearts.  The  race 
willfully  misunderstood  God's  holiest  expres- 
sions of  his  deepest  life,  and  mocked  and  re- 
sisted the  mightiest  entreaties  of  his  love;  but 
God  surrendered  not  his  purpose;  he  would 
not  give  up  his  ideal.  Rather  than  desert 
man,  rather  than  fail  or  be  discouraged  in 
making  man  a  perfect  expression  of  himself, 
rather  than  leave  man  without  his  companion- 
ship, God  took  upon  himself  all  the  conse- 
quences of  human  sin;  he  made  the  guilt  of 
man  his  own  suffering;  he  entered  into  fellow- 
ship with  man's  deepest  woes,  and  made 
man's  wrecked  and  prostitute  life  his  own 
shame.  Though  his  own  received  him  not, 
he  came  to  them  as  a  Redeemer;  though  hu- 
man darkness  apprehended  it  not,  the  divine 
light  shone  in  upon  it.  Though  man  pierced 
the  Father's  heart,  and  trampled  upon  his 
outpoured  life,  and  reviled  his  holiest  words, 
and  crucified  his  ideal,  God  yet  unveiled  *to 
man  his  inmost  being.     Though  sin  had  long 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  103 

delayed  the  divine  consummation,  and  made 
it  necessary  for  God  to  reveal  himself  in  the 
agony  of  Gethsemane  and  the  sorrow  of  Cal- 
vary, God  made  a  complete  revelation  of  him- 
self in  the  face  of  human  mockery;  God  com- 
pletely expressed  all  there  was  of  himself  in 
Jesus  Christ,  who  was  the  best  that  God  could 
be  and  do  for  man,  in  whom  all  things  in 
heaven  and  on  earth  are  summed  up,  through 
whom  every  spiritual  blessing  in  the  heaven- 
lies  is  poured  out  upon  an  undeserving  world. 
God  was  so  unselfish,  cared  so  little  for  his 
own  glory  as  a  self-possession,  so  loved  the 
unloving  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begot- 
ten Son;  he  brought  out  the  best  there  was 
of  him  and  made  a  gift  of  it  to  those  who 
would  scorn  the  gift;  he  would  not  suffer  sin 
to  forever  repress  his  infinite  thoughts  concern- 
ing man.  In  spite  of  human  sin  the  Word 
became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us.  And  in 
the  glory  and  truth  of  that  Word  we  are  find- 
ing our  way  home  to  God.  Man's  unbelief 
and  faithlessness  could  not  extinguish  God's 
eternal  hope.  Man's  inappreciation  and  in- 
gratitude could  not  repress  God's  inmost  life. 
It  would  have  been  a  sort  of  infinite    atheism 


104  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

on  God's  part,  an  unbelief  in  himself,  a  sur- 
render of  faith  in  the  omnipotence  and  finality 
of  goodness,  to  have  withheld  the  Word  from 
becoming  flesh.  Being  our  .Father,  having 
made  man  in  his  own  image,  the  Father  could 
do  no  less  than  make  himself  known  in  his  true 
character  to  his  children.  Nothing  else  than 
a  complete  self-expression  within  the  compass 
of  man's  understanding,  and  in  the  terms  of 
man's  experience,  no  matter  what  man's  con- 
dition might  be,  was  consistent  with  the  good- 
ness of  God,  or  could  justify  his  creation  of 
man.  With  what  a  strange,  infinite  joy,  then, 
was  God  able  to  speak  through  the  clouds  of 
human  misunderstanding  at  last,  and  say  to 
the  world,  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom 
I  am  well  pleased."  Sin  had  delayed  the  joy- 
ous event;  but  the  amazing  love  of  God  had 
brought  it  about  in  spite  of  our  sin,  making  the 
cross  of  his  unspared  Son  the  glorious  revela- 
tion and  pledge  of  his  love  and  mercy  towards 
man. 

The  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  is  our  obli- 
gation to  reveal  and  give  the  best  of  our  life 
and  thought  to  the  world.  The  gift  of  Christ 
leaves  us  no  choice  but  to    receive    his   grace 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  105 

and  show  it  to  men  as  the  Hght  in  which  they 
are  to  walk.  Every  vision  of  truth  is  a  call 
to  duty;  all  knowledge  is  responsibility;  the 
purpose  of  all  God's  revelations  is  to  make  us 
like  himself.  And  this  complete  self-expression 
of  God  in  Christ  should  mean  nothing  less  to 
you  and  to  me  than  absolute  consecration  to 
the  work  of  revealing  God  to  men.  As  the 
Father  sent  the  Son  so  the  Son  sends  us  to 
be  divine  incarnations  and  revelations.  Since 
God  gave  his  best  to  man  the  best  there  is  in 
each  of  us  is  the  moral  property  of  the  race. 
Our  richest  and  sacredest  experiences  are 
God's  investment  in  humanity.  A  religion 
that  goes  not  beyond  the  saving  of  one's  own 
soul,  an  education  that  has  for  its  purpose 
only  the  selfish  development  of  one's  own  life, 
is  essential  infidelity.  It  is,  as  Lotze  says, 
only  a  shining  vice. 

To  fulfill  the  divine  obligation  the  revela- 
tion of  God  in  Christ  lays  upon  us,  we  must 
give  ourselves  to  God.  We  must  let  God 
have  his  way  with  us;  speak  his  thoughts  in 
us;  do  his  deeds  through  us;  let  God's  Word 
dwell  in  our  flesh,  so  that  everything  we  do, 
in  work  or  play,  in  public  or  private,  shall  be 


106  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

a  communion  with  God.  Property  and  study, 
eating  and  drinking,  are  forms  of  communion 
with  God;  and  when  otherwise  regarded  they 
are  perversions  of  divine  trusts.  We  must  seek 
to  enter,  and  must  enter,  if  we  are  obedient 
to  the  heavenly  revelation,  that  sphere  of  life 
where  all  that  we  do  shall  be  done  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  salvation  of  men;  where  we  shall  follow 
our  divinest  instincts,  without  asking  to  see 
where  they  will  lead  us;  where  we  shall  live 
for  what  God  lives,  and  do  the  work  we  see 
him  doing. 

Then  we  shall  reveal  to  men  all  the  truth 
and  grace  God  gives  us.  We  shall  offer  the 
flesh  and  blood  of  our  souls  to  be  the  meat 
and  drink  of  the  world.  We  are  faithless  to 
God's  revelation  and  gift  of  himself  in  Christ 
if  we  repress  the  revelation  of  our  holiest  im- 
pulses, of  our  most  precious  experiences  and 
divinest  ideals,  in  the  face  of  human  stupidity, 
scorn  and  ridicule.  This  is  the  divine  purpose 
of  devotion  and  education — t/ns  is  education 
— the  drawing  out  and  giving  to  the  world  the 
best  there  is  in  the  soul  of  man.  Education  is 
the  unfolding  and  outgiving  of  the  life,  at  any 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  107 

temporal  cost.  I  know  much  that  used  to  be 
called  education  was  in  reality  a  shutting  in 
rather  than  a  leading  out  of  the  deepest  life; 
an  attempt  to  get  something  into  a  man  rather 
than  call  something  out  of  him;  an  effort  to 
improve  upon  what  God  had  already  made 
rather  than  bring  it  to  light  for  the  world's 
good  and  God's  glory.  But  we  are  learning 
that  life  is  the  true  object  of  all  teaching  and 
preaching,  all  praying  and  revealing.  Any 
sort  of  spiritual  life  is  better  than  death. 
Gushing  sophomorism  is  infinitely  more  hope- 
ful than  petrified  intellectualism  and  religious 
mummyism.  And  he  who  slams  the  door  of 
a  soul  in  the  face  of  its  crude  and  awkward 
originality  is  one  of  the  devil's  servants;  but 
he  is  not  one  of  God's  workmen. 

As  the  redeemed  children  of  God,  as  the 
heirs  of  Christ's  grace  and  truth,  we  have  no 
right  to  repress,  much  less  distrust,  our  holi- 
est feelings;  our  visions  of  moral  beauty;  our 
noblest  ideals  of  duty  and  truth.  Thoughts 
exist  for  the  sake  of  deeds.  They  are  the  best 
we  have  to  give  to  the  world.  God  has  a 
right  to  use  them  as  moral  material  to  work 
into  the  new  earth  he    is    making.     The  self- 


108  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

repression  of  that  which  is  deepest  within  us, 
whether  at  the  bidding  of  our  intellectual  and 
religious  superiors,  or  from  distrust  of  the 
practicability  of  our  ideals,  is  a  kind  of  athe- 
ism. To  shrink  from  unveiling  our  purest  and 
most  loving  selves,  because  of  the  scoffing 
skepticism  and  shameless  selfishness  of  the 
world,  is  in  itself  a  refined  unbelief  and  subtle 
selfishness.  There  is  a  moral  cowardice  in 
our  concealment  of  the  spiritual  deeps  of  our 
beings  through  disgust  at  the  baseness  of  the 
real  life  we  see  about  us.  We  whose  fallen 
lives  have  been  high-lifted  by  Christ's  pierced 
hands;  we  who  have  looked  into  the  face  of 
truth  that  was  spit  upon;  we  whose  foul  hearts 
have  been  cleansed  by  the  mercy  that  flowed 
in  the  blood  of  Golgotha;  we  who  have 
watched  the  Lord  Christ  bear  upon  his 
scourged  back  the  cross  of  our  shame; — what 
infidels  are  we  to  repress  and  turn  into  dark- 
ness the  light  that  struggles  to  shine,  even 
dimly,  from  our  poor  lives! 

Grow,  my  dear  friend,  at  any  cost.  Let 
your  deepest  thought  leap  into  boldest  action. 
Be  willing  to  blunder  and  stumble  times  with- 
out number;   but  do    not    dare  to  disobey  the 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  109 

Word  that  speaks  in  your  flesh.  Fear  not 
failure  and  ridicule;  but  fear  to  be  false  to 
your  divine  instincts,  your  noblest  impulses. 
God  is  not  dumb.  Revelation  is  not  some- 
thing that  belongs  alone  to  the  past.  God  is 
not  helpless  before  human  inquiry.  You  are 
his  child.  The  anointing  you  have  received 
from  Christ  abideth  in  you.  And  if  you  abide 
in  him,  and  let  his  words  abide  in  you,  then 
the  living  Christ  will  take  up  his  abode  in  you, 
and  show  you  the  truth  and  lead  you  to  the 
Father.  Then  God  will  come  down  and  dwell 
in  your  life,  and  walk  the  earth  with  your  feet; 
and  your  brains  will  throb  with  God's  great 
thoughts;  and  your  weakness  will  work  with 
the  energy  that  is  omnipotent;  and  men  will 
believe  in  God  because  they  see  him  living 
and  working  in  you. 

There  are  messages  of  truth,  I  would  like 
to  say  to  each  one  of  you,  which  no  one  else 
can  carry  to  needy  souls  as  well  as  yourself. 
There  are  waste  places  which  you  only  can 
redeem  with  goodness;  deserts  of  bodily  and 
spiritual  want  for  each  of  you  to  sow  with 
timely  words  and  kindly  deeds  that  they  may 
blossom  and  fruit  with  righteousness;   wilder- 


110  A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION 

nesses  of  wandering  pilgrims  whom  you  alone 
can  safest  homeward  guide.  There  are  spheres 
of  holy  influences  of  which  you  alone  can  be 
the  radiating  center.  There  are  affections 
which  none  but  you  may  lift  from  things  on 
earth  to  things  in  Christ.  There  are  starving 
souls  which  you  only  may  feed;  blind  eyes 
which  no  one  else  may  open;  troubled  lives 
which  you  alone  may  rest;  stubborn  wills 
which  no  other  touch  than  yours  may  bend  to 
God.  You  are  each  sent,  as  Christ  was  sent, 
to  so  love  the  lost  sheep  of  God  that  you  will 
lay  down  the  selfish  life  and  live  the  divine 
life  for  their  salvation.  Live  in  and  for  your- 
self, and  your  life  will  consume  itself;  go  out 
of  yourself  into  the  impoverished  souls  within 
your  reach,  and  God  will  make  your  life  the 
wealth  of  the  world,  and  break  your  sacrifices 
as  bread  and  meat  unto  a  hungry  generation; 
he  will  set  before  you  the  joy  of  Christ,  and 
purify  your  spirit  with  the  fire  that  will  make 
your  life  a  revelation  of  his  glory  to  those  who 
sit  in  the  darkness  of  selfishness. 

You  have  no  right  to  tarry  from  casting  in 
your  lot  with  Christ  because  of  intellectual 
difficulties.    It  is  not  your  opinions  God  wants, 


A  LESSON  IN  EDUCATION  111 

but  your  life.  You  may  not  be  able  to  satisfy 
your  intellect  about  the  relations  of  the  Father 
to  the  Son — though  they  are  simpler  than 
theology  would  have  us  think.  But  when  you 
enter  the  moral  realm  all  difficulties  vanish. 
If  you  find  in  Christ  such  a  revelation  of  God's 
character  as  satisfies  you,  then  why  turn  to 
thedistractionsof  human  opinion?  If  you  see 
in  Christ  the  man  you  would  like  to  be,  then 
follow  him;  your  path  of  duty  is  clear.  If  you 
are  honest  you  will  follow  the  best  you  know. 
Take  your  stand  at  Christ's  side,  and  you  will 
know  the  truth  and  the  truth  will  make  you 
free.  And  by  and  by,  when  you  have  passed 
from  these  wintry  skies  into  the  unending  sum- 
mer of  his  presence,  when  God's  moral  pro- 
cesses have  done  their  work,  you  will  be 
where  Christ  is,  there — 

'♦The  Christ  of  God  to  find, 
In  the  humblest  of  thy  kind." 


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author  of  ''The  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,"  etc. 
1.  The  Man  the  World  Sees.     2.    The  Man  Seen  by  the 
Person  Who  Knows  Him  Best.    3.  The  Man  Seen  by  Him- 
self.   4.  The  Man  Whom  God  Sees. 

XLbc  3Flabt  of  ifaitb  anD  tbe  Cost  of  Gbaractcr* 

Talks  to  Young  Men.     By  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuy- 
ler,  D.D. 

To  those  who  have  not  yet  become  acquainted  with  Dr. 
Cuylers  original  and  brilliant  productions,  this  booklet  will 
serve  as  an  acceptable  introduction. 

Ibope :  The  Last  Thing  in  the  World.    By  Rev.  A,  T. 

Pierson,  D.D. 

This  brochure  has  been  prepared  to  complete  the  series  of 
articles  on  "The  Triple  Graces."  to  which  Prof.  Drummond 
and  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon  are  contributors. 

XLbC  ^iV6t  XLbUXQ  in  tbe  llClOrlD ;  or,  the  Primacy 
of  Faith.     By  Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.D. 
Dr.  Gordon  has  rescued  us  from  the  danger  of  forgetting 

that  faith  in  Christ  is  the  foundation  of  our  Christian  life." 

— Record  of  Christian  Work. 

XLbc  /iRcssage  of  Jesus  to  jflften  of  THHealtb.  a 

Tract  for  the  Times.     By  Rev.  George  E.  Herron. 

Introduction  by  Rev.  Josiah  Strong. 

"Mr.  Herron  has  put  the  law  of  Christ  to  all  men, 
whether  with  wealth  or  without  it  -the  law  of  self  sacrific- 
ing love — with  a  clearness  and  cogency,  which  demands  for 
his  paper  this  permanent  form."— 22ev.  Lyman  Abbott,  D.D. 

power  from  on  1bigb:     Do  You  Need  It,  What  is 

It,  Can  You  Get  It  ?    By  Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills. 

"  Earnest,  cogent,  bright,  this  brief  discussion  must  appeal 

to  all  classes  of  readers.    The  mark  it  will  make  on  mind 

and  conscience  will  not  soon  fade  away."— ^.  Y.  Evanadi**. 


New  York.      FLEMING  H.  REYELL  CO.  Cnicago. 


1imorft6  bs  Dr,  B»  5»   <5ort>on. 


IX   CHRIST ;  or.    THE    BELIEVER'S   UNION    WITH    HIS 

Lord.    Seventh  Edition,  12mo,  fine  clotli,  210  pages.  $1.00. 

We  do  not  remember  since  Thomas  b  Kempis  a  book  bo  thorough- 
ly imbued  with  great  personal  love  to  Christ.  It  is  evidently  the 
happy  result  of  hours  of  high  communion  with  him.— Boston 
Courier. 

The  true  standard  of  Christian  excellence  is  nobly  upheld  and 
displayed    in   these    pages,  which    cannot  fail  to   impress   every 
thoughtful  reader  by  whom  the  volume  is  taken  in  hand.— Rock. 
THE  MINISTRY  OF  HE  AUNG;    or,  MIRACLES  OF 

Cure  in  all  Ages.  Third  Udition.  ISmo,  fine  cloth,  250 

pages,  $1.25. 

An  interesting  and  thoughtful  work.    Dr.  Gordon  marshals  to- 
gether witnesses  from  all  ages  and  all  classes  in  favor  of  his  belief 
that  cures  may  still  be  wrought  through  prayer. — British  and 
Foreign  Evangelical  Review. 
THE  TWO-FOLD  LIFE;   or  CHRIST'S  WORK  FOR  US, 

AND  Christ's  Work  in  Us.    12ino,  fine  cloth,  385  pages, 

$1.25. 

Distinguished  by  exquisite  purity  of  thought,  by  deep  spiritual 
insight,  and  by  great  strength  of  practical  argument.  The  work 
is  one  of  great  spiritual  beauty  and  helpfulness.— Baptist  Maga- 
zine. 

Its   perusal  will  amply  repay  the  reader  who  wishes  to  be- 
come a  full-grown  Christian. — C.  H.  Spuegeon. 
GRACE  AND  GLORT;  SERMONS  FOR  THE  LIFE  THAT 

Now  Is  AND  That  Which  Is  To  Come.  12mo,  fine  cloth, 

355  pages,  $1.50. 

Here  we  have  power  without  sensationalism;  calm  thought,  liv- 
ing and  earnest,  expressed  in  forcible  language;  the  doctrine  or- 
thodox, evangelical,  practical.  We  shall  be  surprised  if  these 
discourses  are  not  reprinted  by  an  English  house.— C.  H.  Spurgeon. 

The  author's  manner  of    treating  spiritual   truths  is  both 

powerful  and  impressive.- London  MoBNiNG  Post. 

ECCE  VENIT;  BEHOLD  HE  COMETH.    12mo,  fine  cloth, 

311  pages,  $1.25. 

Written  in  a  singularly  graceful  style,  as  also  in  a  singularly 
gracious  spirit.— Watchman  and  Reflector. 

Dr.  Gordon  is  a  writer  with  whom  to  differ  is  better  and  more 
suggestive  than  to  agree  with  some  others.  He  loves  the  truth;  he 
gives  his  readers  much  that  is  true  and  deeply  of  the  essence  oi 
Christianity ;  it  is  impossible  to  read  his  book  without  being  stim- 
ulated by  it  and  getting  higher  and  fresher  views  of  some  aspects 
of  Christianity  which  are  perhaps  dwelt  on  less  than  they  should 
be.— Independent. 
THE   FIRST   THING   IN   THE    WORLD;    or,  The 

Primacy  of  Faith.    Vellum  paper  covers,  $.20. 

***  Any  of  the  above  sent,  post  free,  to  any  address  on  re- 
ceij)t  of  price. 


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Worthy  of  universal  circulation.— CTirfetian  Union. 
The  Christian  Secret  cff  a  Happy  Life. 

By  H.  W.  S. 
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By  the  same  Author. 

The  Open  Secret. 

A  Series  of  Practical  Bible  Keadingg. 

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Envelope  Series  of  Tracts. 
Being  chapters  from  "The  Christian's  Secret  of  a  Happy 
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Life  on  Wings.                                    The  Chariot  of  God. 
How  to  Enter  into  Life.                    Faith ;  What  is  It? 
Concerning  Consecration.                Practical  Results. 
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New  York.        FLEMING  H.  REYELL.        Chicago. 


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THE 

PoetlcBcarilJerSg 

-OF- 

FRANCES 
RIDLEY 

HAVERGAL. 

THE  ONLY  COMPLETE  UNABRIDGED 

AUTHORIZED  EDITION  PUBLISHED 

IN  AMERICA.      In  i  Vol.  i2mo,  880  Pages. 

Miss  Havergal  stands  without  a  peer  in  the  English  language 
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•'  It  is  in  answer  to  many  requests,  that  the  various 
Poems,  Hymns  and  Songs  of  Frances  Ridley  Hav- 
ergal, are  comprised  in  this  library  edition.  The 
labor  of  love  was  undertaken  by  Miss  Havergal's 
niece,  who  revised  and  arranged  with  much  care  this 
complete  and  final  edition.  The  book  in  paper,  print 
and  binding  is  all  that  could  be  desired." 


CHICAGO. 


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NEWYORK. 


Date  Due 

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